The Prince And The Hatter
by JakeTimHunchbackPheobisNistoff
Summary: Adele finds herself falling down the rabbit hole to meet up with the Mad Hatter. He falls deeply in love with her, but what happens when a young prince, son of White Queen, crosses paths with Adele? Will she see Hatter for who he is?
1. Adele

Adele walked through the mushroom forest, with mushrooms as high as trees and even bigger, as she was only a foot high. There were fireflies and crickets all around, and Adele heard the sound of a peaceful creek, trickling neerbye.

"I want to go home!" Adele pouted. "These mushrooms smell like mud!"

Adele walked all through the night till she came to an opening from the forest. There was an old, broken down windmill and a ridiculously long line of tables with a tea party set up. Adele was very hungry so she was happy to see that there were many cakes, scones and much, much more.

"Oh, yummy!" Adele squealed, and she ran to the tables.

Just as she was about to pick a cherry off of a cake, she noticed that there was a man at the end of the table.

He was woken from his sleep, at the presence of Adele, and he opened his pea grean eyes and smiled widely, as Adele glanced at him.

Adele backed away from the table in fear, as this man was the freakiest man she had ever seen. Trying to mind her own business, she began to walk off without being noticed, but the man stood from his old, beaten down chair, and walked across the tea tables, knocking cups and plates around.

Adele let out a blood curdling scream of terror and ran as fast as her undersized legs could carry her. "Help, help! Daddy!" she called, but the man caught up in seconds, and pulled her on her little hand.

"Let me go!" Adele screamed.

"It's you," the man said with a crazy, gap toothed smile. "Alice, you're terribly late, you know, naughty," he said, pointing at her lecturing.

Adele narrowed her eyes at the man. "What?"

"I've waited ten years for you, you know? When you left the first time, it almost killed, me, but now you're back, you see! And we need to get on to the Frabjious day!"

Adele covered her nose, as the man's morning breath was hideous, along with being much, much bigger than her, and his morning greasy hair was crumbly.

"I'm not Alice!" Adele folded her arms, "but I can see why she would have left you!"

"Excuse me?" the man lisped.

Adele rolled her eyes. "I just want to go home! I was supposed to make cookies!"

"Why must you go home so soon?" he asked. Then he stood. "I'm sorry. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tarrant Hightopp, the Mad Hatter, at your servous," he said, with a polite bow, and he removed his hat.

"Pfft...well that's great, but I don't want your servous. I want to go home," Adele turned to walk away.

"Oh, but Adele! You must defeat the Jabberwocky!" Hatter said.

Adele crunched up her face at how many wrinkles this old man had. She heaved a sigh. "I wish a cute guy could have been the one to find me."

"I'm sorry, what's that, Dear?" he asked

"Nothing," Adele rolled her eyes.

"Come, Dear," he said, with a chuckle. "Come join us for tea." Hatter took hold of Adele's tiny hand and dragged her across the table.

"Aaaaa!" Adele squeaked. "Pay attention to what you're doing! You got pie jelly on my feat!"

Hatter set Adele on a pile of books so that she could reach the table. Adele cowered as a March Hare laughed like a maniac and stared at her with his pop eyes. There was a mouse as well and a scary, _scary_ cat.

Adele wished that there were something normal about this place. "Hat Man, are there any _normal_ looking people here?" she asked with an attitude.

But the hatter didn't actually listen to her question. He was talking all about the frabjious day, and how he was going to futterwacken, vigorously once the Red Queen was defeated.

"Ugghhhhh..." Adele shook her head as she stared at the sky, "he's so old an un handsome."

"And we must go to the White queen's castle, as she's waiting for the champion. The prince himself has his army ready for battle at any time."

Suddenly, Adele stopped in her thoughts. "Wait...did you say prince?" she asked.

"Yes, My Dear. Young Price Aksel, the queen's son. He'll be waiting as well."

"Well, let's not keep him waiting any longer! Come on, let's go!" Adele cried, anxiously, as she stood on her seat.

Hatter chuckled, as he removed his hat. "Wait, wait, Dear. You must take this drink of Pishalver," he said, giving a vile to Adele to drink.

"What's this?" Adele crunched up her nose.

"Drink it, drink it!" Hatter hurried her along.

Adele glared at him. "Don't rush me!" she snapped and she took a sip of the drink. Suddenly, Adele shrunk down to four inches. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed. "What did you do to me, you weird, old man!"

"My Dear, you must be small enough to ride on my hat," he explained.

"I'm not your dear, and I'm not riding on you're dusty old hat!" Adele pouted, as she turned away. Then she glanced down at herself. At least being the size she was made her dress a cute little white fluttery one with a flower and ribbons on the side. That was one good thing about it.

"How will the prince ever notice me now!" Adele cried.

"Now, now, My Dear. Don't fret, the queen will make you your regular size again," Hatter said, as he set Adele on his hat.

"I'm _not_ your dear!" Adele repeated, "and you had better be right."

"I'm as right as right will ever be," Hatter said, charmingly, and he took the hat and walked it and Adele away.

* * *

As Adele lay, bored on the brim of Hatter's top hat, he was stating a poem of Underland. It seemed to be about someone defeating something with lots of gibberish words ivolved.

Adele rolled her eyes as she rested her hands behind her head and listened on. She wasn't going to say anything though. She knew that Hatter wanted her to ask what he was reciting.

But when he was finished, he plucked Adele from his hat and gazed upon her with his freaky eyes. "It's all about you, you know?" he said, in a Scotch accent.

Adele folded her arms. "What's all about me?" she said, smartly.

"That poem I was just saying."

"Well, I wasn't listening, so I don't care who it's about. Now how long till we get to the White castle?" Adele looked out at the path.

"It'll be quite a while," Hatter said, a bit disappointedly.

"Well, _how_ long?"

"I don't know, Dear," Hatter sighed.

Adele pinched the palm of his hand for calling her dear again, but suddenly she sqealed out in disgust. The hatter's hand looked like it carried a desease, with blood, callouses and lots of red splotches.

Continuing her squealing, she climbed up his arm and rode on his shoulder. "What's wrong with your hands! They're hideous!"

Hatter looked offended. "I don't know..."

Adele wanted to cry. Now she got full wiffs of his hair and saw lots of dandrift all over the shoulder that she sat on. "Oh...!" Adele wiped tears off onto her dress. "I hope the prince isn't as freaky as this guy! Then my whole trip would be a waist!"

* * *

After a long torturous trip to Marmoreal, Adele was sobbing and sobbing when she finally saw that there was a huge white castle ahead. "Oh, we're here, we're here!" Adele cried, and she almost jumped off of Hatter's hat, but he caught her before she could.

"Wait, there, Little Girl. You can't walk there with your tiny legs."

"I can if it's getting away from you!" Adele snapped.

Hatter frowned sadly.

"How does my hair look!" Adele stood, and started straightening out her hair. "Is it bad?"

"You look...beautiful..." Hatter said, a little hesitantly.

Adele rolled her eyes. "Well, what does _that_ mean? Who _know's_ what _you_ think is beautiful."

As Hatter began walking up to the castle gate, Adele saw seven men on horses. The head horseman was wearing a crown.

"Oh!" she gasped, as she stared at the man. He had blond hair and very fair skin. His features were strong and exotic, and what a handsome young man he was. "That must be the prince..."

Adele listened as his strong, deep voice shouted orders to all the men and he unsheathed his sword. Then he and the other horsemen galloped down the castle pathway and out the gates.

"Was that Prince Aksel?!" Adele asked the hatter, in all her glory, with her cheeks rosy and eyes glittering with happiness.

"Oh, what...?" Hatter looked around. "I'm sorry, dear, I wasn't looking that way."

"He just rode past us on his horse, you dork!" Adele yelled, and she kicked his hand.

Hatter tried as hard as he could to keep from going into a mad breakdown. He didn't want to crush the little person he held.

But he quickly delivered Adele to the queen. Queen Mirana looked at Adele with a bit of discouragement. "Wait...Hatter...this isn't Alice," she said.

Hatter said, nothing. He looked a bit nervously, and shifted his feet. "Sorry."

Mirana sighed. She knew that his age was getting the better of him.

"Well, why does everyone keep talking about Alice?" Adele wined. "She's probably not near as pretty as me!"

"Alice needs to defeat the Jabberwocky," Mirana explained. "A ruthless, dragon like creature."

"Pffft, well forget that. Alice can do it," Adele said, as she walked away, in the direction of a set of armor.

Suddenly, the armor started glowing. The queen and the hatter gasped and stared at the armor. Adele looked up at the glowing armor and rolled her eyes. "Wants me to notice so I wont."

Just when Adele was about to walk away from the armor, the queen called out to her. "You may not be Alice, but the armor is calling to you!"

"What!" Adele looked afraid.

"Come with me. We must get you ready!" The queen picked up Adele and ran her out of the room.

* * *

After Adele was her normal size, cleaned up and dressed up, she was finally able to rest. "Well, it sure is nice to be able to get all those gross hatter germs off of me. Now what's all this stuff about me defeating a dragon?"

"Jabberwocky," the queen told her, "and the armor called to you."

"Probably thought it would look better on me instead of Alice," Adele rolled her brown eyes. "But I'm too scared. Fighting is for men, and I'm a pretty girl. I want to stay pretty too."

"Adele, tomorrow is the frabjeous day. We need you to defeat the jabberwocky!" the queen pleaded. "It will save all of us, and Underland will be free at last!"

"Stupid Jabberwocky," Adele pouted. "Totally just wants to get attention. And if I battle it, it'll get the attention that it wants. But if we all _ignore_ it, he'll get embarrassed and hide away forever."

The queen didn't exactly understand what Adele was trying to say.

"If you don't mind, can I walk around a bit. I'm tired of talking about the jabberwocky," Adele walked out into the courtyard, where there were gardens with beauty, beyond belief. "Well, it sure is a good thing this castle will be mine pretty soon," she told herself, as she picked a white rose and smelled it. "I wonder when Aksel's coming home."

Adele looked around a bit, when suddenly, she spotted the royal stables. There she saw the prince was setting his horse away for the night. He was no longer in his armor and he wore a gray tunic with blue pants and brown boots up to his thighs. His head was bare and it revealed the handsome sunbleaches in his gold hair.

"Oh, there he is!" Adele jumped and she ran over to the stable. "Hi, Aksel!"

The prince jumped a bit, startled and stunned that someone called him by his first name. He looked at Adele with both curiosity and surprise. "Hello," he said, "have we met?"

"Nope!" Adele said, with a huge smile, "we've not met, otherwise I would have remembered!" she giggled.

Prince Aksel smiled. "What's your name."

"Adele, _not_ Alice. Alice isn't as pretty as me," Adele said, with a curtsey.

The prince was still smiling and didn't know what to say. Adele was probably the most characteristic person he had ever met in his life. "Well...Adele...not Alice, what brings you here?"

"I fell down some un funny rabbit hole and then some weird old man found me and told me about the queen's son and I demanded that he took me to his castle."

The prince still didn't know what to say. All that came out was a nervous laugh. Adele smiled fondly at him and looked into his deep ocean blue eyes. "Oh, he is _such_ an improvement from my last company. This _so_ was worth the journey I had to take with that shabby old man!"

Just then, a maid came out and informed that it was dinner time. The prince looked at Adele. "Can I...escort you to dinner?" he asked, and he couldn't believe the courage he had to offer his arm to her.

"Can you? Oh, you better believe you can!" Adele squealed, as she grasped his strong arm. "Yay! Thank you, Aksel!"

He smiled, feeling very flattered, almost as if he were dreaming. "Thank you," he said, a bit quietly.

Suddenly, Adele sighed. "Sorry...Your Majesty...I guess I got a little too excited..."

Prince Aksel chuckled. "That's fine. You can call me Aksel."

"Well, I'll be calling you Aksel soon anyway," she said, lifting her shoulders. "I'm just saving myself some awkward time."

Aksel felt like he had been blown away. Did she really mean what he thought she meant, or was it just him? If she did mean what he thought, it would have been the first of his fan girls that he would not shut out of his life. She was the most beautiful he had ever seen in all of Underland. There was no other woman like her and Aksel hoped that he may have actually found his bride. The bride that his mother that begged him to settle down with since he was 16 years old. But all the plain women never attracted him and Adele, she was an angle to his eyes. An angel with very bad manners, but yet, still an angel. Aksel felt that he was walking on air as she skipped alongside him and chatted away about nothing at all. It was wonderful.

* * *

Adele went to the room that the White Queen had given her and to get dressed for dinner. "So, Adele. What should you intoxicate the prince with tonight?" she asked herself as she went rummaging through the closet.

All of the dresses were boring white, or light blue. Adele frowned. "What, is this Alice's wardrobe or something! I want a pretty dress!" Adele sat on the floor and thought a while. "What do I wear...?" she whined.

But suddenly, she got an idea. Quickly, Adele grabbed a white dress and ran to that hat shop. Hatter was in there, making a hat. "Hatter, this dress is my size so use it for mesurements. Make me a purple dress with a lacy bustle and yellow, pink and darker purple flowers on the skirt. I want the lace to sparkle and the shirt to be tailored with a princess cut and tiny little puff sleeves made of lace and a flower in the middle. I need it before dinner, which is in 15 minutes, so hurry up. I'll be in my chambers waiting, thank you! Bye!"

Adele rushed back up the steps and waited. "I know I won't have any trouble getting him to make me that dress," she thought confidentially.

Sure enough, just in time, there was a knock on the door. Adele jumped from her window seat and opened the door to reveal Hatter there, holding the exact dress she had requested. "Oh, thank you, Hatter!" Adele squealed, and she snatched the dressed from his arms.

"Anything for you - " Hatter began to say, but Adele shut the door before he could finish.

"Okay, now lets see," Adele said, as she tightened the laces on her corset. She put the dress on and looked magnificent. "The prince better be attracted to this. All he ever gets to see is boring white."

Adele did her hair in a simple braid that reached past her back. She clipped little flowers in her braid and leaves as well. "I'm so beautiful that I don't need to do my hair up into some georgeous, romantic stile. It would only call away from my astonishing beauty, and how would Aksel see it then?"

Adele put on some simple diamond earrings and a necklace to match. "Pretty soon I'll have a diamond ring to match!" Adele giggled. "I cant wait to be the princess."

Adele walked out of her room and down the steps. Every man she past glued his eyes to her for ever second.

"Yes, yes, I know," Adele sighed. "But it's not for all of you."

Once Adele reached the large royal dining room, the prince was standing there in the door way. He was dressed in a shining white tunic with a Marmoreal simbole on the front, with white pants and long white boots. His white cape was off one shoulder and his crown was white gold.

Adele rolled her eyes. "White, white, white," she thought. Then she stepped in his way. "Hello, Your Highness!" she cried, with a delicate and gorgeous curtsey.

The prince's turquoise eyes opened wide as could be, just as Adele had expected. "Yes, yes. Feel free to give yourself a moment and take it all in," she said, casually.

"Adele...you look...so..."

"Beautiful?" Adele offered. "I'll just make it easy on you, I know you can't talk very well right now."

Aksel smiled so wide and he didn't think he could stop. "Yes, beautiful! You're absolutely beautiful!"

"Am I even real, you wonder," Adele smiled off to the ground.

Suddenly, the prince looked terrified. "You are, right?" he gasped.

Adele batted her eyes and smiled to herself. "Well...yes, I am."

The prince's smile returned. "Oh, good," he sighed with relief.

Adele giggled. "You're funny!" she said, hitting his arm, playfully.

Off to the corner of the room, there were four ladies in white dresses, with their fancy, white hair and their fans.

"Who is she?" one of the ladies spat with hate, as they all watched Adele flirt with the prince.

"The champion," another scoffed, "who just _happened_ to be young and beautiful!"

"She sure has the prince excited."

"I hope she _dies_ , battling the Jabberwocky."

Just then, Adele came walking by the four ladies, arm in arm with Aksel. Adele smirked at the girls. "Isn't His Highness looking dashing this evening!" she shouted. "Or is he always? Oh, the lucky girl that gets him!"

The ladies all turned red in a heart beat. They wanted to pluck ever bit of Adele's shining brown hair out of her head.

Just then, the Queen came over to Adele. "My goodness, Adele. You look wonderful. Where did you find such a colorful dress?"

"I made it," Adele lied.

The hatter, who was neerbye, glanced over at Adele, hoping that she would confess who really made it. But she just kept walking on.

The prince lead her to the table, where he pulled a chair for her and had her seated.

"Oh, thank you, Your Highness," Adele sighed like a girl and batted her eyes. Then she gave an evil look to the four ladies again, who were as red as tomato soup.

Once dinner began, Adele was a little too excited over the royal dinner. It was the most exquisite she had ever witnessed. "Oh, yummy!" she cried, and she began to eat all the food on her plate. Then she took seconds and thirds.

The four ladies all smiled to one another. "Well, that's it. She blew it," they were sure of. No royal would ever have someone behave like that.

But when the ladies looked at the prince he was fascinated and amused by Adele's appetite and he couldn't hold his laughing.

"Son!" the queen snapped to the prince for laughing at the dinner table.

"Sorry, Mother," Aksel said, a bit shamefully, and he looked away from Adele so as not to laugh. But even Queen Mirana thought this to be funny. Adele was quite the personality.

Just then, a tall blond woman came walking in. "Sorry I'm late," she said. It was Alice. "Have I missed the Frabjous day?"

"Oh...Alice, it's you!" the queen said, a little overwhelmed.

"Yes, I've come to defeat the Jabberwocky."

"Don't worry yourself on it, Alice. I've gotten that under control," Adele said, as she mildly picked at her food.

Alice looked confused. "What?"

"The jabberwocky. I'm killing it tomorrow," Adele said.

The prince gave Adele a strange look. "Wait...what?"

"Yup." Adele put a crayfish in her mouth.

Aksel frowned. "No you're not," was all he said.

Adele lifted her eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

"You can't fight a jabberwocky!" the prince began to get into a frenzy.

"Oh, well I'm sorry, Mr. Prince! But your pretty little purple flowery girl just happened to have been called to the armor!" Adele stood from her seat and put her hands on her hips at him.

"That armor is for Alice!" Aksel stood looking down at her. "Let her take care of it! You stay here, in the guarded castle where nothing can happen to you!"

"Sit back down!" Adele pushed him on the chest, and knocked him back into his chair. "You haven't finished your dinner yet. Taking royal bites doesn't get you anywhere now does it?"

"That has nothing to do with you fighting in a war!" Aksel stood back up. "Now, I'm the prince and you'll listen to my orderes!"

"Who's in charge of the rules? The Prince, or the Queen?"

Aksel said, nothing. He looked over to his mother and expected her to stand on his side, but she only closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Aksel. The armor called to her."

"No, you can't do this!" Aksel yelled.

"Aksel, calm down!" his mother tried to say.

"She's a girl, and girls can't even lift a sword!"

Just then, Adele snatched the sword out of Aksel's sheath, causing him to fumble and he fell to the ground like a fool.

"Really?" Adele smirked at him, as she fiddled with the great big sword. "What a nice shiny sword!" she said, looking in it's reflection.

Aksel stood and snatched the sword back, setting it in his sheath. "Adele...please don't," he begged her.

"And let the jabberwocky take over Underland?"

"Yes," Aksel said, with no hesitation.

"What a selfish girl I would be," Adele said, as she sat back down at the table and began on some crab legs. "Now if you don't mind, I have a battle to prepare for and I would like to eat!"

Aksel said nothing as he stood there, staring at her. Then suddenly, he ran out of the room.

"Aksel!" the queen called and she stood up, "come back!"

But he didn't. He slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Aksel ran to his closet and put on his chain mail shirt. He threw his shield on his bed along with his helmet and meatal boots.

He was interrupted in his preperations as his mother entered his room. "Aksel," she said, and he turned to look at her.

"Don't try to stop me," he said, as he set his chest plate on.

"You _can't_ fight that jabberwocky! Only she can!"

"I don't care."

"You'll get yourself killed!"

"I don't care!"

"Do I have to set you in the dungeons?"

Aksel gave a look of horror and disbelief. "The dungeons!"

"And then you'll be even less help to her. You're no help to her by trying to kill the jabberwocky and your no help to me dead." The Queen set her palm on her face. "I'm not losing my son."

"Well, I'm not losing Adele!"

"If you care so much about her than let her kill the jabberwocky! It'll end up killing every single one of us in the end anyway, and her not having killed it will be all your fault!"

Suddenly, Aksel stopped. His mother had a point and he was beginning to think rationally. She was right. He would loose Adele if she didn't kill it. But he couldn't imagine her being in battle...All though it would be quite charcteristic of her. But how could he watch her, a little dainty girl, ride off with a sword and shield. That wasn't appealing at all, and he hated the thought of it.

"You'll be there in battle with her, but she is the only one who can do the task. You know it. Don't be a fool, and don't try to say otherwise," his mother said.

He knew that now, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't mess with fate, as he knew it would destroy everything.

"Don't worry. The Vorpal sword knows what it want's. All she has to do is hold onto it, and she cannot loose." And with that, the queen walked away. She knew that she said all she had to say to keep him from investing any farther into this mess he was making because he knew she was right.


	2. The Battle

Adele was dressed in shining armor. She glanced in the mirror and looked at each side of herself. "Yeah," she said, "I do look better than Alice in this armor."

"Come, Adele. We must get you a horse," the queen said.

"Ohhh, a horse!" Adele clapped her hands and ran off with the queen.

Once everyone was lined up, ready for battle, Alice came running out. She was wearing some armor that she had found in the attack and she tried to shine it up.

"Why are you going to battle, Alice?" Adele asked, a bit threateningly.

"I want to help too," she said.

"Oh," Adele said, as she rolled her eyes a little.

Just then, Aksel came trotting out on his white horse, all armored up for war. He came up beside Adele and glanced at her bare head. "Why aren't you wearing a helmet!" he freaked.

"Uh, cause it would cover my hair, duh," Adele said, as she gave him a stupid look.

"No, no. You have to wear a helmet - !"

"Go, Horse, Go!" Adele called and she went galloping off, away from Aksel.

"Hey, wait!" Aksel called, and he signaled for his horse to gallop, but his horse was a stallion and did whatever he felt like doing.

"Gallop!" Aksel demanded, to his disobedient horse, but the horse reared up and through Aksel on the ground and ran off.

"Now you know what it's like to raise a boy," Aksel heard his mother say as she went trotting by him. Aksel stared at the ground and sulked.

"You Highness...It would be an honor to have you as a foot man," Hatter said, as he offered a hand to the prince to help him up.

Hatter was wearing a dingy blue kilt of no tartan, a ratty sporren and un matching socks. He dressed up for this day. He wanted to impress the lady.

"Um...thank you, Tarrant, but...I have to catch up to Adele," Aksel said, and he rushed off to the stables to get a new horse. Hatter began to march with the army proudly, with his oversized sword.

A moment later, Aksel came galloping to the front of the army with a black horse, and lead the way of the white army.

* * *

Both armies met on a chess board field. Adele climbed off of her horse and stared out into the murky sky. "It sure is ugly here," she said.

"Devilishly ugly," Adele heard a voice say from behind her. She turned to find the hatter comeing her way.

"Uhhh..." she grunted, "what are you doing here?"

Hatter smiled. "I'm here to fight," he said, simply.

"And what are you wearing!" Adele looked at his kilt in disgust.

"The traditional garb of my clan."

Adele saw that he had a gloopy eye booger in his left eye. She rolled her eyes. "Where's my night in shining armor?"

"Who?"

"Where's the prince!" Adele snapped.

"Oh...oh, my. He, um...I believe he lost his horse...again..."

"Well, that's foolish."

"Yes!" Hatter chuckled.

Adele glared at him. "But not as foolish as having an eye booger!"

Hatter didn't really know what she meant, but he looked into the mist. The red army was coming closer and closer, and the sound of clinking armor was strong, as the card kinghts were on their way.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech that sounded like a banshee, and then thumping. Hatter gasped, as did Adele.

"I'm scared!" Adele wined. "How am I supposed to kill that! It's impossible!"

Hatter leaned in, and ever so nobly, said, "Only if you believe it is."

Adele glared at him and his eye booger was so embarrassing that she didn't know what to do.

"But just at the moment," Hatter said, changing to his Scottish accent, "you really might want to focus on the Jabberwocky."

Just then, Aksel came galloping over on a brown horse. "Adele, I have a helmet for you!" he shouted.

"No!" Adele screamed, and she ran off to go fight the Jabberwocky before Aksel could say anything else.

"So, my old foe...we meet on the battle field once again!" the jabberwocky said.

Adele gaped at him in disbelief. "Fumes Lee? Well, I'm not scared anymore."

"Not you, Insignificant Barer! My ancient enemy...the Vorpal one..." The Jabberwocky took a few steps forward.

"Well, you're a fool, cause I wasn't saying anything about you talking to me or not. I was talking about how you're Fumes Lee - "

Adele was instantly knocked back by the Jabberwocky, and she screamed. Aksel hit at his horse's flanks to signal the horse to gallop over to aid Adele, but the horse went no where. "Move move!" he growled.

But Hatter was already on it. He poked the Jabberwocky's tail before it could get to Adele's healmetless head.

Hatter smiled mischivously, and ducked before the tail could whack him. Adele rolled her eyes. "Stay out of it!" she yelled, but Hatter removed his hat and turned his sword up to battle.

"Uhhhh...so embarrassing," Adele rolled her eyed.

Then she jumped to her feet and began to run up the broken down rock steps. "Come on, Fumes Lee! I'm up here!" she called to the Jabberwocky.

The Jabberwocky ran after Adele, and the two armies charged one another. Suddenly, Adele felt afraid for Aksel. What if he died in this battle. "You know what I think is stupid? The fact that a _prince_ goes into battle, where he could easily get killed! Who would rule after that?!"

But she didn't have much time to think about it before the Jabberwocky came clapping his jaws over. He hit his head into a big rock and got dizzy. Adele rolled her eyes. "That's what happens when you try to look scary."

But just then, the jabberwocky let out a huge screech that almost blew out Adele's ear drums. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed, and covered her ears. She ran higher up on the steps, and got a glimps of the battle below. "Where's Aksel?" she thought. Just then, Adele spotted a big fluffy orange head of hair and a stupid kilt flailing around. "Uhhhhh...he is too old to go into battle."

Then for only a second, Adele saw Aksel was fighting red knights. He was winning with ever strike and was very well trained in swordplay. However, Hatter was trying so hard, just to keep his sword up.

Adele looked back at where the Jabberwocky was still dizzy. "Hey, Fool! Aren't you gonna at least try, or do I just have to come over and chop off your head to show that this whole thing was a waist of time!"

The jabberwocky was still dizzy and he tried to lift his head, but it fell right back down.

"Pffft! Fine," Adele said, and she stomped over, kicked the Jabberwocky in the head and then chopped it off. "Well, that was easy."

The head went rolling down the steps to the sight of all of the battlers. Everyone stopped fighting and stared at Adele, standing up at the highest point of the steps. "That was fun! Let's do it again!" she called out.

"Kill her!" the Red Queen shouted.

"We follow you no more, Bloody Big Head," said, a red knight, and he threw down his spear.

"How dare you! Off with his head!" Red Queen ordered.

But her entire army began to fall back. They all dropped their weapons, as Hatter began to walk gallantly in the wind to go retreative his hat.

Adele came jogging back down just as the White queen was banishing the red Queen to the outlands. Some White knights cuffed her and took her away. Underland was saved and all of the White army cheered.

Hatter watched with a calm smile as Adele was walking over to join her army. Adele came face to face with Aksel, and the two smiled at each other. She was about to approach him, when suddenly, a pale, wrinkly, and colorful face got in her way.

Adele's smile fell and she was instantly aggravated by Hatter's eye booger that still hung out of his left eye.

"You did it Adele," he said, gently, and he set his hand on her shoulder. "You fantastic girl. You saved all of Underland!" he cheered, and he twirled around, grabbing his hat. "Oh Frabjous day! Callou Callay!"

And with that, Hatter began his Futterwacken. He tried to keep up to spring, but he had last danced that dance when he was in his 20s, not 40s, so it was harder.

Adele rolled her eyes and looked away. "Just when I thought he couldn't get more embarrassing."

Hatter completed his futterwacken with a bow, and made a touching move to set his hat back on his head. Then he glanced over at Adele, who was totally facing away, rubbing at her eyes to make sure that they were beautiful.

Hatter felt saddened. He had done that whole futterwacken for her, and she didn't even watch.

Just then, the White Queen approached Adele with a vile. "Adele, thank you so much for all you've done for Underland. This blood will take you home if you choose," she said.

"Oh," Adele said, and she took the vile and stared at it for a moment.

"You could stay..." lisped a whisper, and Adele glanced up to find that Hatter was there, still and sad, hoping that she wouldn't leave. What would he do if she left. He was sure he was in love with her.

Adele came out of her trance and frowned at Hatter. "Oh, yeah, well..." she said, with a sigh. Then she caught sight of the prince, as he was helping a wounded solder up onto his horse. "Well, yeah, I'm staying - "

"Perfect!" Hatter sang out, and he threw his arms around Adele. "I hoped you would!"

"Ew," Adele said, as she smelled his hair. And she could just imagine all of the dandrift on his neck.

"What a celebration it is! Underland is saved, and it has also gained a new citizen!" the white queen cheered.

* * *

Once everyone came back to the white castle, Adele went to go get cleaned up. But just before she was about to walk in, Hatter tugged on her arm and looked a bit bashfully at her. "You have a very important date, and you musn't be late. Go get cleaned up and put on your finest dress. Meet me back here in and hour."

Adele freed her arm from him and scowled. "Fine," she said, with an attitude and she walked off. "What does that old man want?" she muttered to herself.

Adele got dressed in a boring light blue dress. "No way am I wearing the dress he made me. That one is way too pretty."

An hour had past and Adele was still not with Hatter. He checked his watch and looked around nervously. She was 25 minutes late, and Hatter was starting to get worried.

Finally, Hatter's smile grew when he saw Adele coming out of the castle doors. Adele rolled her eyes when she saw that he had set up a tea party and there were only two chairs at that. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she groaned.

Adele didn't do her hair or even check to get the mud off of her face from the battle. Hatter seamed disappointed. "You were late, Adele..." he said, a bit hurt.

"Yeah...well, I was playing with the doll house that the queen gave me!" Adele wined, as she was about to sit down.

"Oh, wait!" Hatter rushed over to get the chair for her, but she sat down herself anyway.

"So, what do you want?" Adele asked in a rather unkind tone.

"There's no problem if you ask, and so I shall tell you." Nervous giggle. "Why, Adele. You've just defeated a Jabberwocky. Should a hero not have some tea?" he said, in a shaky voice.

Adele's eyes were half open with boredom, as she rested her cheek in her palm. "I would think not. This hero hates tea. She would rather have hot chocolate."

Hatter's smile fell to disappointmet and shock. "Oh...well...why not have a cake then?" he suggested, and he handed a cake to her.

Adele heaved a sigh. "I guess..." she said, and she took the cake and ate a bit.

Hatter was also disappointed that she wasn't wearing the dress he had made for her the day before. But never minding that, he pulled a very small box out of his coat pocket and stared at it for a moment.

Adele's eyes grew concerned, and she wailed in her head. "Oh, no! Are you serious!"

Then he slid the box across the table to her, using only the tips of his fingers to do so. Adele stared at it with anger and then at him. He waved his hand to hurry her along to open it.

Adele scowled and took the box. Opening it, she found that there was a ring with two emeralds and a black jewel in the middle. "And it's not even diamond." Adele rolled her eyes. "Typical."

As Adele was rolling her eyes she didn't notice that hatter had come up beside her and he was kneeling down next to her.

"Oh, what?!" she squirmed away a little.

"Adele...my only Adele. I know that this world is not your own. But I know you, and I know that the other world is not your's either. Would you do me the honor of staying here...with me...being...my wife?" The hatter was so noble and honerable as he spoke, and he took the ring from the box and placed it onto her left finger.

Adele crunched up her face in disgust. "Okay, first of all, you _don't_ know me! Second, I already said, I was staying and third, we all know why!" Adele screamed, as she ripped the ring off of her hand. "I'm head over heels in love with the prince, and I guarantee you, he'd get me a pure diamond ring!"

The hatter was crushed, and he looked like he was going to break down into tears.

"So no! I don't know where you get the idea that I would ever want to be with you, but who cares even? I know I don't," Adele walked past him and set the ring back into the box. "Gotta go. I have to get ready for the ball tonight. The ball given to me in my honor."

Hatter fell to the ground and sobbed. He set the ring box, very carefully back into his coat pocket and cried in his hands.

All of the sudden, Hatter heard an announcer calling out and big mob of people came trotting up to the castle on their horses. "Make way for His Highness, Prince Aksel!"

The man quickly shoved the tea table out of the way, and and kicked a few chairs off to the side, as the prince came trotting by.

Hatter scowled at the prince with all the hate in the world. He wanted to strangle that boy. But how would he ever do that?

* * *

As the ball was going on, Adele was perfectly cleaned and dressed in her favorite dress. The one Hatter made for her. She wondered around, looking as beautiful as ever, with a perfect smile on her perfect face.

Adele saw the prince coming her way, and she pretended not to notice, as she looked down at the ground.

"Adele?" Adele heard him call her name.

Adele pretended to jump a little in surprise. "Hmmmmm?" she smiled up at him.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, with a bow.

"Oh, I'd be delighted, Your majesty!" Adele curtsied in her purple skirt.

The two danced a beautiful dance, and looked beautiful together. Just then, Alice and Hatter, who were dancing together, came dancing nearby the prince and Adele.

Alice was wearing the green and black engagement ring on her left hand, and it was obvious that the two were trying to get attention. Adele knew it, and she, of course, only paid attention to the attractive person in front of her. Her prince. Her knight in shining armor. Her love.

"Hello, Your Highness," Hatter tried to say loud enough to be noticed.

"Hello," the prince smiled at Hatter.

"Uh...I don't know if you know this, but...uh, Alice and I, we're engaged to be married," Hatter said, loudly.

Adele still wasn't looking. She was to busy resting her head on Aksel's chest, closing her eyes fondly.

"Congratulations, Tarrant. I hope you two will be very happy together," Aksel said, to him.

"This day is just full of magic, isn't it?" Hatter smiled.

"Yes," Aksel said, as he smiled down at the brunette, leaning her wonderful brown hair on him.

Suddenly, he lead Adele out onto the veranda, where they were alone. Hatter followed a little and watched from a distance. For a while the two were just dancing around, embracing one another and smiling with not a worry in the world. But it didn't take any time at all before Hatter watched the prince take a small box out of his tunic and he knelt down in front of Adele.

Hatter pained, as he watched Adele cry tears of joy and then the two shared their first kiss as the prince swung her around.

"I wanted to do that!" Hatter cried, as he had that all planned out. He felt his heart hurting so much.

A while later, after all the kissing was over, Adele and Aksel came running back in. They talked to the queen and the queen called for all to come to a tention. "Fellow, Underlandians! Today, the Frabjous day, we celebrate our freedom and our peace. We celebrate also our Champion coming to Underland to stay."

All listened on.

"But that is not all we celebrate. There is even more. Prince Aksel, future king of Underland, has asked that Champion to be his wife! Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we are given, Princess Adele of Underland!"

The crowd cheered like never before. The queen set a white gold, tiny crown on Adele's head as she had been keeping the tiara up at the thrown, waiting for the day that her son would announce his engagement. All of the ladies of the kingdom sobbed in one another's arms, and Hatter looked on sadly.

"Come on, Hatter," he was interrupted by Alice's soft voice. "Let's celebrate." Hatter made out a smile and they began to dance.

Aksel walked down, carrying his future wife in his arms, and he set her in the middle of the dance floor and they danced as well, celebrating their love, happiness and engagement. Adele could never be happier. She was a princess in no time at all, and she barely even had to work for it.


	3. Wedding

Bells were ringing loud in the air. The entire kingdom was awaiting the ceremony, preparing to take place. Hatter had just, sadly, finished the last touches of Adele's dress, and was about to deliver it to her, when his wife came walking in.

"Hello, husband," Alice said, as she came and put her arms around him.

Hatter smiled down at Alice.

"The dress, Hatter...it's gorgeous!" Alice said, admiring what an amazing design her husband had put together. It was much more interkut than _her_ wedding dress. But Adele was the princess, after all, and she only expected the most beautiful.

Hatter looked at his stop watch. He was a few minutes late, as this dress was the biggest thing he had ever made in his life. "Oh, my, I'm late!"

Alice giggled. "How naughty."

Just then, a maid walked in.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," Hatter said, putting up his finger. "Would you mind informing the princess, that her dress is a few minutes late?"

The maid bowed and left the room.

* * *

Adele stood on a dressing stool with maids at ever side. They were tightening a ridiculously tight corset and fixing her petty coats.

"Tighter, tighter!" Adele ordered. "What do you think I am, a peasent!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," said a maid, with all the patience she had left. After all, this maid was one of the ladies that was in love with the prince, and she wanted to take this corset and strangle Adele's pretty neck with it.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"That had better be my dress. Shabby old man has ten seconds to deliver that dress, or he's beheaded," Adele said, as one of the maids went to answer the door.

It was just a delivery man with a wrapped box. "It's a wedding gift for you, Your Highness," called the man.

Adele tightened her lips. "Put it on the table outside, in the courtyard, where the entire mountain of presents is!" she screamed.

"Oh, oh, yes, Your Highness," the man said, nervously, and he rushed off.

Adele rolled her eyes. Just then, there was another knock on the door. The maid let them in, and it was another maid.

"Your Highness," the maid said, with a bow, "your dress will be a few minutes late."

Adele lifted her eyebrow. "Well, tell that shabby old idiot that he can get beheaded after the wedding. Thank you."

The maid bowed and left the room. The servants closed their eyes. Was this Underland's future queen. They at least had hope, for they knew that the prince was very nice, and he wouldn't have all of this Red Queen behavior.

Just then, Alice came walking in with the dress.

"What took so long, Alice?" Adele said, to Alice in the mirror.

"Forgive my husband. He's been up all night making this dress and he got no sleep. It is the largest and most magnificent thing he's ever made," Alice said, as she handed the dress to one of the maids.

"Well..." Adele sighed, "for your sake, I wont say anything rude."

Alice frowned. She already had. The maids began to put on Adele's wedding dress. It had a skirt that flaired out almost ten feet, and the back of the skirt's length was almost 15 feet. There were sparkles all over it, and white flowers that trailed all the way down the heam of the bustle. The most beautiful purl work was done on the shirt, and the sleeved were long, from the small fuff sleeves at the top of her shoulders, with lace fabric and sparkles as well.

"I look like a princess!" Adele squealed. "Oh, wait...I am!"

All the ladies rolled their eyes as they pulled the dress tight and bowed the sash. Then they got started on her hair.

Suddenly, Adele wondered, who would walk her up the aisle. "Oh no! My daddy's not here, so who's going to take me up to the foot of the altar!?"

Adele thought and thought, until she came to an idea. "Oh, I know. Shabby old man can. He's as old as my daddy. Servent, go get Shabby Old Man, and tell him that he needs to try his best to make himself look slightly presentable, because he's walking the princess down the aisle.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the maid bowed and walked out the door.

* * *

Hatter was in his chambers, trying to find the best clothes he had. Nothing matched, and nothing looked near good enough to suit a royal wedding.

"What shall I do, Alice!" Hatter stressed.

"Darling, you know that you look handsom in everything."

"But not to _her_! She hates every _inch_ of me!"

"Well then that's her problem," Alice frowned, with no pateince for the princess. She was sick of all of Adele's rude and nasty comments and orders. "How did she ever get the prince?"

"Precicely what I asked myself on the Frabjios day!" Hatter said, as she put his kilt on. "This is the nicest I have..."

"Well, Darling...I think..."

"You hate it! Oh, I know, you hate me! You wish that you could marry the prince!"

"No, no! I love everything about you, no matter what you wear...I just dont think it's good enough for the princess," Alice said, sadly.

"What is...besides the prince!" Hatter pouted.

Suddenly, Alice got an idea. "The...prince..."

"Yes, the prince!"

"No, no, Hatter, I have an idea! The Prince has plenty of clothes you would be able to wear!" she said, grasping his arm.

"But...I could never wear the prince's clothes."

"Hatter, the prince must have hundreds of outfits that he probably doesn't even know exist, or ever even worn! It's perfect!"

"Well...how are we going to sneak in there without him knowing? He's probably occupying his chaimbers right now."

"I'm pretty sure he's not. I believe he's down at the aisle, waiting for his bride."

Hatter thought about it for a moment. "Well...I suppose it cant hurt to borrow his clothes. After all, he's a kind spirit and I don't think he would mind."

So Alice and Hatter sneaked into the prince's chambers to find that it was indeed empty. They rushed to the closet that was as big as a living room, and rummaged through his clothes.

"You see? I told you he had out fit after out fit! There's no way anyone in the kingdom will notice!" Alice laughed, as she took an outfit of gold and she pressed against her husband. "You'll look striking in this! Put it on and meet the princess at the back of the aisle. You'll be dashing!"

* * *

Hatter looked in the mirror as he tried to button the pants. "Oh..." he struggled to get the pants to fit, "the prince is much thinner than I am..."

"Just pulled the coat down a bit. No one will notice," Alice said, as she brushed off his shoulders.

"Alice, these are the prince's clothes, not mine," Hatter said, a bit down. "I highly doubt there's a speck of dust on them."

Alice got a brush and tried to brush up her husband's hair.

"Oh, ow!" Hatter winced as his hair was tugging at scalp.

"Sorry, Dear," Alice said, as she tried to go a bit more gently.

"Alice, it's hopeless! I'm not as good as the prince, and no one will ever think so!"

Alice frowned. It didn't matter how much she flattered her husband, it was never good enough for him. "Hatter, no one will be looking at you."

"That's right! They'll be looking at the prince, since he's better than me!"

"Well...it's his wedding. I'm sure he's going to be a big part of the day."

"It's hopeless! Why does it have to be me? Why can't I look as handsome as the prince!"

"You are as handsome as the prince! You're more handsome!" Alice tried to say.

Hatter only closed his eyes and sniffed. Who could ever be as handsome as the prince?"

"Hatter, handsome doesn't matter! All a girl needs is a kind, loving man, who protects her and will do anything or her," Alice said, as she held each side of Hatter's face.

"Everything that the prince is!"

Alice was nearly glaring now. The more she tried to fatter her husband, the more he felt sorry for himself. "All right, fine," Alice said, and she started brushing Hatter's hair again. It yanked and tugged and caused lots of pain.

After his hair was brushed, it looked like a huge fluff ball of orange. But Alice didn't have time to fix it anymore, so Hatter ran down to the thrown room with the golden outfit on, tugging at his waist and causing him to have to catch his breath ever second.

"I'm here, Princess! I'm here!" Hatter called, anxiously, as he jumped in her way, trying his best to look tall and smart.

Adele glared at him. "Well, you're under arrest for stealing the prince's clothes."

Hatter looked both humiliated and exasperated at the same time.

"Come on!" Adele yanked Hatter's arm and the two went walking down the aisle. Adele grew a huge smile on her face when she saw Aksel standing at the rail of the altar, all dressed with a white jacket and gold trim on the ends of his sleeves and golden buttons. He gave a smile just as happy as Adele's, once he saw her walking up to him.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Queen Mirana couldn't hold her tears in as she watched her baby boy put a white gold, shining ring on Adele's finger. She could barely believe he was only an infant in her arms 20 years before.

At the wedding reception, everyone moved out to the court yard. Hatter walked around and looked at the thousands of gifts all piled up, given to the newlyweds. And the cake was nearly as tall as he was.

Hatter sulked at all of the beauty. "My wedding wasn't this big. Look at everything!"

Alice came up beside her husband and put her hand on his arm. "What did you say, Love?"

"I said that our wedding wasn't this great! We didn't get near this many presents!"

"Well...Hatter, it's a royal wedding. The groom is a _prince_."

"So what? Everyone should be treated equal! I'm no better than the prince, just as much as he's no better than me!" Hatter thought he had a method to his point.

"Hatter, stop! You stop behaving like a child!" Alice said, harshly.

Hatter gasped. "A child!"

"Yes, a child! You're acting like a jealous child! Now you should be very happy for the prince that he found his bride!"

Just then, Alice glanced over at the prince, as he was arm in arm with his new wife. They were standing in the middle of the courtyard, as everyone came by to congratulate them both.

"You come with me, and congratulate His Highness and his bride, and if you say otherwise, there'l be a fight when we get back home!" Alice dragged her husband over to the newly married couple. "Put a smile on your face, and be respectful," Alice whispered to Hatter.

"Yes, Dearheart," Hatter said, in a bit of an aggravated tone.

The Hightopps approached the prince and princess.

"Your Majesties," Alice said, with a bow, "how wonderful it is that you two are married. We wish you both the very best."

"Thank you, Alice! And don't worry, your wish came true! We are the best!" Adele giggled.

Aksel was glancing at Hatter a bit curiously.

Hatter gave him a strange look back. "Oh, you may be the prince, but you can't have my wife no matter how much you order it," Hatter said, as he held Alice's hand.

Aksel blinked a bit. "What?" he asked.

"Don't look at my wife. She belongs to me, all though she's in your kingdom," Hatter tried to act like he wasn't still in love with Adele by making the prince look like he was jelouse of him for having Alice.

"Oh, no!" Aksel chuckled, "I wasn't thinking that at all!"

"Good, because my Alice is the most beautiful in all of Underland, and I wont have any other men looking at her, or thinking that they can win her over by their princely ways."

"Um..." the prince gave a strange look as he scratched his head, "I wasn't looking at her...actually, I was looking at you."

Hatter froze a bit and then glanced down at himself. "Me?"

"Yes...are those clothes - "

"Yes, Darling, they're your's!" Adele interrupted before he could finish his question.

"Um!" Hatter began, nervously, "I...I'm sorry, Your Majesty! I promise, I thought you wouldn't mind!"

"Oh..." the prince laughed a bit akwardly, "it's all right. You can keep them if you want."

Hatter couldn't believe it. "D...do you mean it?"

"Sure," Aksel lifted his shoulders, "that's fine."

"Oh..." Hatter's face lit up with a smile, "how kind of you!"

"Oh!" Adele stopped him before he could say anything else. "Believe me, it's not out of kindness! The dear prince just doesn't want to wear clothes that your butt germs got all over, so save your energy."

Hatter scowled at Adele.

"Ah, ah, ah! I'm the princess now, and you can't look at me that way," Adele gave an inocent smile.

Just then, the queen announced that the dancing would begin. "May I get everyone's attention? The prince and his new wife will now shair their first dance as a husband and wife."

Adele clapped her hands. "Yay! Come on, Aksel!" She dragged him to the middle of the courtyard, and beautiful music started playing. The two began to dance a romantic Underlandian dance.

Mirana couldn't stop smiling, as she watched her son twirl his new wife around and lift her high in the air. A moment later she called for other's to join in the dance.

"May I have this dance?" Hatter asked, Alice, with a bow.

"We do love weddings, don't we?" Alice said, with a smirk, as she took Hatter's hand.

Hatter and Alice danced close to Adele and Aksel. "You know you married a mad man, right?" Hatter said, with an evil grin.

"What will that mad man do?" Alice asked as she lifted her eyebrow.

Just in that moment, when Hatter was sure that the prince and Adele were able to see them, he lifted Alice so very high in the air. But just as she was as high as his head, Hatter sprained his back and he gulped with excruciating pain filling his nerves.

Alice flew out of his arms and she landed hard, knocking Adele over, and the two girls crashed into a table.

The whole crowd looked on in shock, and gasped as they wondered what would happen next. Hatter was in the middle of the opening, all hunched over, groaning in despair.

Adele was screaming her head off, as she couldn't get up with her dress being so large. Aksel lifted her and helped her straighten her skirt.

Once Adele had her veil fixed, she scowled at the broken old man in the middle of the crowd. "You!" she screamed, as she stomped over.

"No...No!" Hatter tried to cry, but his back hurt far too much for that. He tried to walk away as fast as he could, but his back kept him walking only a few feet.

Adele came up and kicked him in the back, bending it the other way. At first he screamed out in much pain, but a moment later, he felt tremendous relief, as Adele had kicked his back right where it needed to be.

"Oh...oh my, you fixed me!" Hatter sang out. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Oh, don't you try to flatter me! You just - "

"Adele," Aksel cut her off, as he took her hands, "come on. Let's finish our dance." He tried to lead her away from Hatter so as not to start a riot at their wedding reception.

"How can I dance, when morons throw people on me so I go tumbling down!" Adele's face was red.

"Adele, it was an accident. It's not his fault," Aksel tried to tell her, as he was anxious to make her happy.

"He's too old to be swinging girls around! What does he think he appears like! He's not a prince, I could tell you that much, and he looked ridiculous trying to be!"

Hatter was about to cry, but Aksel distracted Adele with a glass of punch, and they walked away.

Hatter scowled with sadness and anger at the princess. Alice came up and set her hand on his shoulder to sooth him. "Are you all right, Darling?" she asked.

"She's wrong!" Hatter spat with a red face of fury. "I _am_ a prince, see!" He pointed at his golden prince clothes. "How could she say I'm not now!"

Alice tried to keep from laughing. "Well...I suppose...you are then."

"Exactly! She's just jelous that you got to marry me before she could!" Hatter told himself, blocking out the memory of Adele rejecting his marraige proposal.

"Well...no matter what she says, you're a prince to me," Alice said, leaning her head on his chest.

Hatter smiled at that. But his smile fell quickly, once he caught sight of the real prince, all young, strong, good looking and far more masculine.

But suddenly, he stopped his envy. "No," he told himself. "My wife says I'm a prince, so I'm a prince! I'm wearing prince clothes, so I'm a prince! I don't care what Adele says! Her oppinion doesn't bother me, or effect me in the least! I am a prince!"

And for the rest of the reception, Hatter walked around tall and proud, brushing off his gold coat, here and there, standing strong and wise. The more and more he told himself he was a prince, the more he believed it.

* * *

Once the wedding was over, Hatter and Alice began walking back to their chambers. "I'm so glad that the prince gave me these clothes," he smiled. "I really do feel like a prince now."

"Oh..." Alice said, a little unsurely, as she looked at the stitches in the clothes that her husband wore. It looked like each stitches was screaming out in terror and that any second they'd all pop. "Well...Hatter, why don't you get ready for bed? Your prince clothes will be there in the morning."

"You're right, Love. It's time to go to bed," Hatter said.

As Alice was in bed, reading a book, Hatter came running in with a panicked look of horror. "Alice, Alice!" he cried.

"What's wrong?" Alice jumped a little, closing her book.

"My prince clothes ripped, when I changed into my pajamas!"

Alice didn't say anything for a moment, as she looked at him with wide eyes. Then she let out a sigh of pity. "I'm sorry, Hatter. I know how much you loved to be a prince."

"They were the nicest clothes I had!" Hatter flopped onto the bed as he held the golden peices of ripped fabric.

Alice saw that the stitches all split down the seems, and there were now four pieces of gold fabric. "Darling, don't fret. I'm sure even the prince tears his clothes now and then."

"But the only difference is he has hundreds more! When his clothes get ripped, he can still be the prince cause he can just go to his closet and put on some other ones!"

Alice didn't realize that he was taking all this prince stuff that seriously.

"I only had one prince outfit..." Hatter said, sadly.

"Well why do you want to be the prince so much?"

"Cause he's better than me!"

"But I thought you said everyone was equal, prince or not."

"Well, not if I'm a prince!"

"I don't think that's very fair, Dear."

"Well it's not fair that he was born from the queen and not me!"

Alice didn't really know what to say. "Well...Darling...you couldn't possibly be the queen's son. ...You're older than her."

Hatter lay back against the bed in despair. If only he didn't have to always feel so bad about himself, all would be right. If only he were 30 years younger and royal, he might have had a chance to get the girl of his dreams.


	4. Honeymoon

Adele chose her and Aksel's Honeymoon spot to be a cabin in the forest, next to a beautiful lake with a boat, away from everyone else. The woods were magical, as Adele walked outside to smell the fresh, morning air.

"Ahhhhhh..." Adele sighed, as she heard the birds singing in the air, and the creek flowed into the lake. "What a perfect spot."

Just then, Aksel came out of the cabin and stood next to his lady on the porch. He was wearing white, loose pants and a loose long sleeved shirt.

"Aksel, quit wearing white. You're not in Marmoreal right now," Adele told him.

Aksel looked down at his clothes. "Well...yeah, but white clothes was all I packed up. And what does it matter what color my clothes are?"

"I think with you're complexion and blond hair, green would suit you very well," Adele said, proudly. "Even a deep blue color would match your eyes. But white...everything? It's boring."

Akesl came and set his arm around her, as they both gazed out from the porch. "You sure know a lot about fashion."

"Of course I do! It was my greatest talent in the Upperland to tell everyone if their clothes looked good on them or not."

"Oh..." he looked a bit curiously, "really?"

"Yup! My family, my friends, and just people I happened to pass by," she said, proudly.

Just then, a man walked by as he was walking his dog.

"Hey, Man, get out of here! It's our honeymoon spot, and while you're at it, put on a red hat! That yellow looks horrible with your black hair!" Adele called out to him.

Aksel looked shocked. "Adele, that was rude!" he whispered.

"But it needed to be said. Now come on, lets get something to eat." Adele turned to go inside.

"Oh...um..." Aksel looked a little concerned, "should we go back to the castle?"

Adele frowned at him. "It's our honeymoon! Why would we do that?"

"Oh, well...it's just...um...we don't have a cook."

"You're so rottinly royal, Aksel! I know how to cook!"

"You do?"

"Of course."

"Did you used to be a servant?"

Adele gasped. "No! How could you say that!"

Aksel put his hands out. "Whoa, now I didn't mean anything offensive by it. I just...um...Oh, I don't know..."

"That's right, you don't know! You don't know anything because you're too spoiled, rottin, and rich! You don't know what goes on in the real world, and anyone who doesn't know what goes on in the real world, shouldn't be the king!"

Aksel thought for a moment. He realized Adele was actually right. "Well, then it's a good thing that I married a commener, so you can teach me all I need to know."

"Fine, I will," Adele looked sternly at him. "Get some shoes on, and we're going to go pick berries. We're making creap's for breakfast."

"What are those?"

"A delicate dish that came from my land."

Adele and Aksel walked outside, and there were a few clouds in sight. The spring air was so wonderful that it was heaven. They came down to the bush by the woods and Adele began to pick them. "I bet you didn't know that Squamberries came from bushes, did you?"

Aksel looked blankly. "Actually...I thought they came from jam."

"Okay, you're a prince, Aksel! Don't you study, and aren't you supposed to be smart?"

"Yeah...I'm not much of a reader though. I kindof zoned out during my lessons as a kid."

"Well, it shows, but that's okay. I like a stupid guy, so that way I can control him easier."

Aksel lifted his shoulders. "Whatever works for you."

Adele looked into Aksel's basket, and it was empty. "Aksel, I'm not picking all these myself! Get to work!"

"Oh yeah...sure thing." Aksel looked at the berries and then at the basket. He grabbed a branch and yanked it off, stuffing it into his basket.

"Fine. I guess you want leaves in your creap's," Adele said, mildly.

"Well..." Aksel struggled, "how do you get them so clean?"

"Pick the berries _only_. Not the leafs, not the branch."

Aksel picked a berry. "But...there's like hundreds of them. Don't you know how long that would take?"

"Yes, Your Highness. I do," Adele casually picked some more berries.

Aksel knew she was mocking him. "Look, just because I'm a prince, doesn't mean I can't do anything!" he glared.

"Then do something."

Aksel looked at the berry bush, and then at his basket with one berry in it. "Fine!" He began to pick berries with more determination. But picking them so fast, he didn't realize that there were sharp thorns on the bush, and a thorn went right under his fingernail. "Ow, ow!" He shook out his hand.

Adele rolled her eyes. "Typical."

"That thing hurt me!"

"Yeah, that's why you have to be careful. I didn't realize that you were _that_ stupid."

"I'm not stupid!"

"But you can't even pick berries!" Adele giggled.

"I'm just not used to picking berries myself! It doesn't mean I can't learn!"

Adele sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll stop making fun of you because I can see that I'm upsetting you."

Aksel stopped scowling, and changed his attitude. "I'm not upset..." he muttered.

"Yes you are," Adele smiled.

"I'm not. I just...seem like I am cause I'm tired. I didn't get much sleep last night," Aksel tried to say.

"Oh, because princes must get 15 hours of sleep, and if there's a minute less then they're crabby all day long," Adele teased. "Wow. Royal's sure have boring lives. Go to bed early and sleep late. But of course, being that they don't have anything to do all day long, cause everyone does everything _for_ them, they probably just fall asleep for being so bored all the time."

"I do stuff!"

"Like what? Pick berries?"

Aksel didn't answer.

"Well if you don't pick berries then you must not do anything, cause picking berries is no big part of a comener's day." Adele loved to tease Aksel. How many people got to tease the prince without getting in trouble for it? "But of course, Aksel, if you're tired, you can go back to bed. I can enjoy our honeymoon on my own."

Aksel looked nervously. "But...what's the point in spending a honeymoon...if your by yourself?"

"Well, it won't be much fun, I can tell you that much," Adele sighed. "But I know you're used to going to bed at 8:00 and waking up at 11, so I'll just get used to the fact that I'll be alone most of my life." Suddenly, Adele sniffed, and she wiped at her eyes.

Aksel felt pity for her. "Adele, I won't go to bed," he said, as he set his hand on her. "I'll stay with you, I promise. If you're awake, I'll be awake."

"Oh good," Adele smiled at him with no tears in her eyes. "I'm glad you changed your mind. Now lets get started on the creap's. While you were wining about no sleep this whole time, I picked enough berries for both of us."

Adele showed him her basket filled to the top, and he couldn't believe it. She had picked all those in only the time of ten minutes, and he had only 7 berries in his basket. he felt like a wimp and now he was ashamed.

"Don't worry. Princes are supposed to be wimps," Adele said, as if she was reading his mind.

Aksel looked shocked. How did she know?

"Because I know everything," she answered him, before he asked it.

Aksel's eyes were wide and curious, both with fear.

"Come, on. I'm hungry," Adele said, and she pulled on his arm to come inside.

Adele heated up the stove and Aksel leaned against the door frame and watched her, smiling at her beauty.

"Yes, I do look beautiful, don't I?" Adele said, as she stirred some cream.

Aksel's smile fell and he looked concerned again.

"Get used to it. In the long run it'll only save time." Adele sprinkled sugar on the berries, and mixed it in. "I know you must think our honeymoon spot is pretty lame, and you probably can't wait to get back to the castle. But I'm just celebrating my last moment's of being a comener. Once we go back to the castle, I'll be a royal, and my life will be boring like your's.

Aksel frowned and suddenly, he felt sad for her. "Adele, you're a princess now. You can do whatever you want. If you want to cook, you can cook. If you want to pick berries you can pick berries. You don't have to...not do anything..."

"You mean be bored?"

"Well...I wasn't going to say that..."

"But it's true."

Aksel sighed. "Okay, okay. Well, maybe royal lives are boring compared to what you had. But maybe they don't have to be."

"Now that you see there's more to life than sleeping eating and sitting in your thrown?" Adele smirked.

"I don't sit in my thrown. I usually explore actually. And as for the honeymoon spot, I actually think it's really great. It's pretty fascinating to pretend to be poor for once."

Adele scowled at him.

"Was that bad?" Aksel looked nervously.

"Yup."

"Sorry," Aksel sighed.

"You really are a dumb prince, aren't you?"

Once Adele was done making breakfast, she set it out on the table by the lake. Then after they ate, they went in their boat. Aksel was starting to realize that there was a life he could live, and he was surprisingly, having a great time, rowing the boat with his hands.

Then they came to a flowery field, and lay down in the grass, staring at the sky. They lay there for hours and hours, just talking and enjoying each other's company.

"It sure is nice that now since we're married, we can get to know each other," Adele said, as the held a flower.

Suddenly, Aksel stopped in thought. "Wow...you're right! We didn't bother to get to know each other before we got married!"

"Yeah, it's a good thing you're stupid though. Any smart prince would want to know his bride before he was married to her."

Aksel felt strange. It seemed like anytime Adele called him stupid, that she was complimenting him. But calling someone stupid wasn't a nice thing at all. With no farther confusion, he decided to not think about it anymore.

"Come on, Stupid Prince. Let's go wading in the creek," Adele said, and she grabbed his hand and they ran down to the creak. "It might be a little cold, so you might not be used to discomfort. But if it's too cold you can just watch me wade myself and be beautiful."

Aksel stepped his bare foot into the water, and suddenly his body froze. Adele smirked at him, as she watched his eyes grow wide. "Too cold for your delicate feet?"

Aksel quickly looked to Adele and shook his head no. "Of course not!" he said, with a smile, trying to hide how cold he was. Adele could see that every second, he was trying to endure the coldness of the river.

"You're such a fool!" Adele giggled, and she wrapped her arms around him. "I love you!"

Aksel smiled down at her. "I love you too," he shivered, and Adele could hear his teeth chattering.

"Oh, come on," Adele rolled her eyes playfully, and she walked him out of the water. "Warm up," she said, as she sat beside him. It was a beautiful honeymoon day.


	5. The return to Marmoreal

The royal carriage came up to the castle, as Aksel and Adele came home from their wonderful honeymoon greatly spent for a month. Everyone was there to great them as they came walking back to the castle.

"So, where did you go?" asked Hatter, as he came up to Aksel and Adele.

"To a cabin by a lake," Aksel said.

Hatter gave a strange look. "A royal honeymoon was spent at a cabin? Why a cabin?" he asked, getting competitive.

"Adele wanted to spend her honeymoon as a comener...before she would have to be royal forever," Aksel explained.

"Oh, I understand," Hatter said, still a bit competitive.

"I loved it. I thought it was great to not have to be royal for once," Aksel said, truthfully.

Hatter went into shock. How could someone _not_ want to be royal? "What an ungreatful brat!" he thought. "Well," he cleared his throat, "some stuff happened while you were gone away. Not that its...really big or anything...or even important, but I became the royal hatter!" Hatter said, harshly, trying so hard not to act like he was proud of himself.

"Well, you were right about one thing," Adele said. "It certainly wasn't important."

Hatter scowled as she walked back into the castle.

"Congratulations," Aksel said, "I think you deserve it."

"Well, it's...really no big deal...I mean, the word _royal_ doesn't really mean much...It's kindof just a term...I mean...I really am having a hard time getting used to people calling me, _Royal Hatter_."

"Well, all right then. If you don't want to be royal, I understand."

"Oh, no no! I wasn't saying that, I mean, how could I offend your mother like that?"

"I'm sure she would understand. I could ask her to remove your title 'Royal Hatter' if you want - "

"No, no, don't remove it, I beg you! I've been so excited about it every day since it happened and I'm still excited! Don't take away my happiness!"

Aksel looked strangely. "But I thought - "

"I changed my mind!"

Aksel said nothing, as he studied Hatter for a moment. "Oh...okay."

"Your Highness, Hatter and I are also having a baby! It's due in only a four months!" Alice said, with so much joy.

"Well, congratulations," Aksel said, lightened up at the thought.

"Yes, thank you, thank you! I'd be lying if I didn't say I was proud of _that_ one! There's going to be a child of the Royal Hatter pretty soon here," Hatter said, with a proud smile.

"I'm very happy for you both."

"A child to carry my legacy! My name! I have a descendant! Pretty lucky child to be born from the Royal Hatter, eh?"

Aksel laughed a little. "Congratulations," he said, again, and he was about to walk in after Adele.

"It's a very big responsibility that I'm taking on, being a parent, you know? With all of the duties I have as being Royal Hatter of the queen. I'm going to be very busy once this little bundle of happiness gets here," Hatter stopped the prince before he could leave.

"I could imagine," Aksel said, starting to get testy.

"How could you? I'm sure Ade - um...your wife...isn't with child." It was hard for him to remember that Adele was a princess sometimes.

"Uh...well, I don't know. I suppose she'll tell me if she is," Aksel said, and he took another step to the castle doors.

"But if she is, my wife was withchild first!" Hatter was getting really competitive, that he was going nuts.

Aksel looked uncertainly at Hatter. "Uh...yes, of course," he said, and he walked off.

* * *

Only a month later, the queen announced that the prince and princess had a baby on the way. The kingdom was overjoyed that the royal family was to be continued.

"The royal family was already being continued!" Hatter told a man at the ball that was being celebrated for the new baby to come.

"Well...yes I know. The prince and his wife are expecting a baby," the man said to Hatter.

"So is the Royal Hatter's wife!"

"Who's the royal hatter?"

"I am! And my baby is coming first, cause my wife was pregnant for longer! That _prince's_ wife just _got_ pregnant literally this past week! My wife has been carrying for three months!"

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry," the man said, looking like Hatter was crazy. He walked off.

"Okay, I don't see why everyone's being so excited about this _prince_ baby! It's not like we didn't announce our baby first!"

"Well...I suppose it's because the baby is royal," Alice said, as she held her stomach, miserably. It was hard enough to carry a child, and deal with her husband, who acted like a child, at the same time.

"So is our's, Alice! Do you know that the child you bare has royal blood in it's veins!"

"Yes, Hatter," Alice rolled her eyes, "you've told me that before...every day."

"I know it must be hard to accept that you're husband is royal, but you're going to have to sooner or later," Hatter laughed a little. "What, do I have to tell you every day?"

"You do tell me every day," Alice frowned. "If you don't mind...I'm going to go sit down. I'm not feeling well."

Alice went over to the sofa at the side of the room, but she found that it was already occupied. Adele was laying there, crying and crying.

Alice looked concerned. "Your Highness...are you all right?"

"No!" Adele screamed. "Alice, I have a baby in me! I feel awful!" Adele sobbed.

"Oh..." Alice sighed. "I understand. I have - "

"No, you don't understand! This baby hurts so bad, and it's only been a few days!"

Alice frowned. "Well..." she said, as her baby kicked inside of her, "at least it's not kicking yet." And then the baby inside her started doing the futterwacken. "Or the futterwacken."

"Here, Your Majesty," said a doctor and he came up to Adele, giving her some medicine. It was a special, and very expensive medicine that only the princess would be able to afford, and it got rid of all most all of Adele's pain. But not 100 percent, unfortunately, and Adele still cried.

"I wish I could have some of that," Alice thought, as she had been wanting that medicine for the past three months.

"Alice, I can't do this..." Adele whimpered. "I think I'll die!"

"It'll all be okay. You'll see in the end, you'll be good as new. And you'll have a little baby that you can hold, cuddle with and love."

Adele kept screaming, and grabbing her stomach, rolling on the couch.

"Adele, are you all right?" Aksel came running up to her.

"Get out of my face!" Adele screeched like a witch and she yanked his crown off and threw it across the room. Then she yanked on his hair. "Go away!"

Aksel backed off and watched his wife with great concern.

"He's always bothering me!" Adele blubbered.

"He's only trying to help," Alice told her.

"Well, I wouldn't be trying to help if I wasn't the one who had to deal with all the pain!" Adele gave a hateful look at the prince, who was retreaving his crown across the room.

At night time, Adele was even worst. She screamed every second and kept everyone in the castle awake.

"Adele, Adele!" Aksel tried to kneel at her side, but Adele turned his way and scratched him across the face with her Charicterless nails.

Aksel groaned and grabbed his face. "Get him a clean rag," one of Adele's doctors said to a maid.

The maid got a rag for Aksel and he wiped his blood off of his face. Then he glanced at Adele, who was hissing at him like a snake. Aksel's eyes got wide as he took a step back. He began to dread what was to become of the next six months, since in Underland, babies were only carried for six months instead of nine.

Adele began screaming again, and Aksel knew that there was really nothing he could to to get her to stop. So he tried to deal with it and sleep anyway. He grabbed the pillow and wrapped it around his head as Adele screamed and screamed.

* * *

The next day, Adele was still screaming. Alice was in her bed, trying to get to sleep, as she listened to the bratty princess. She was disgusted with how Adele behaved.

"That princess sure is the drama queen," Hatter said, as he gave some tea to Alice, and scowled at the ceiling, knowing that Adele's room was on the floor above.

Alice didn't even want to talk about it. She was too depressed.

"Well, Alice, I best let you try to sleep. I have royal duties elsewhere," Hatter walked out of the room with his hands clasped, proudly behind his back.

As Hatter was walking through the halls. Aksel was walking past Hatter, when Hatter saw that he had three scratchmarks on his face and a bite on his cheek. "My goodness, Young Prince! What did you do to yourself?" Hatter asked, with concern.

"Put a wedding ring on my wife's finger one day. That's all I did," Aksel said, with misery and exhaustion all over his face.

"Ah," Hatter said, with a schemeful look. Once the prince left, Hatter smirked at him. "That's what you get for being her knight in shining armor when I proposed first! Now I have the princess and you have the witch!"

Hatter laughed as he skipped on his way. "I sure am glad she rejected my proposal!"

Just then, Adele came running out of her bedroom. She was wearing her night gown still and her hair was a mess. She hadn't groomed or bathed, and she looked like she was going to kill anyone who past her way.

"Oh..." Hatter's eyes got wide and he tried to walk the other way. But suddenly, he heard a screech that sounded like a banshee and he turned to find that Adele was chasing him down the hallway.

Hatter let out a scream of terror and he ran as fast as he could. "Help, help!" he cried. Adele growled like a vampire.

"She's gonna eat me!" Hatter bolted in his and Alice's chamber and locked the door behind him. He tried to catch his breath as he shook with horror. "She's a mad woman!" he cried.

Alice jolted. She had just fallen asleep. "Hatter..." she groaned, "I thought you had...royal duties, or something."

"Royal duties, yes. But I'm afraid they'll have to be put off. I was nearly killed by the princess.

"What...?"

"As important as my duties are, I must reside them later. I was nearly killed, My Sweet," Hatter said, as he set his palm on Alice's face.

"Oh...all right," Alice said, and she closed her eyes to go back to sleep.

It was in this moment, that Hatter finally loved Alice as he looked at what a perfect wife she was and how unperfected the prince's wife was. He made the right choice marrying Alice, and he was so very greatful that he did.


	6. The Hatter Baby

Three months later, Hatter and Alice's child was born. A baby girl, and already she had a shock of flame orange hair, like her father. Not much of the kingdom knew it, and that morning, Hatter went walking threw the halls of the castle with his new child, all wrapped up.

A servant walked past, and went on his way.

"Hello, there!" Hatter stepped in his way.

The servant looked a little strangely. "Hello, Mister...?"

"Royal Hatter!" Hatter said, with offence, "I'm the royal hatter, for heaven's sake!"

"I'm sorry...I didn't know there was a royal hatter."

"Well, of course there is! It's me! I'm royal, and I think that what you said was very disrespectful to a royal!"

The man looked a little freaked out by this weird old man. "Oh...forgive me..."

"The royal hatter's wife just had a child, you know?"

"Oh..."

"Did you not know?"

"No...not exactly..."

"How could you not know?!" Hatter bickered.

"I...know that the prince's wife is...going to have a baby soon - "

"So what! Is the prince the royal hatter?!"

"No...but - "

"Then don't talk about him!"

"Okay...forgive me," the man said, and he was about to walk on his way.

"Well, don't you want to see her?!" yelled Hatter.

"Oh...sure." Hesitation was in the man's voice.

Hatter pulled the covers away from his baby's face to reveal a very odd looking baby.

"Well..." the man tried to smile, "she certainly looks like her father."

"Thank you, thank you," Hatter said, proudly. "I know she does. Her name is Olivia Hightopp, and a beautful thing she is!"

"Congratulations," the man smiled, and he went on his way.

Hatter frowned. "You know, I don't think many people know that I've just had a new baby." This was the third person that Hatter showed his baby to, and they hadn't been informed that the Royal Hatter had a child. "I must tell the queen."

* * *

"I'm telling you, there should be a ball in Olivia's honor!" Hatter said, as the Queen walked around a bit nervously.

"This is the Royal Hatter we're talking about! Not just some pesant! And I can tell you, I've never been more hurt that no one knew that the Royal Hatter just had a baby!"

"I see," the Queen said.

"So we'll have a ball?"

"Well...it's the Prince's birthday today, and we're already having a celebration. I suppose I could announce the birth of your child as well."

Hatter gasped. "It's the Prince's birthday?!"

"Yes," White Queen smiled fondly at the thought.

"You mean to say that the this royal baby's birth is to be distracted by someone _else's_ birthday?!" Hatter looked horrified.

The Queen frowned. "Hatter...you do realize...my son is the _Prince,_ right?"

"Of course I realize it, and I have a very healthy respect. But this is serious! The Prince's birthday can't be distracting Her Highness, Little Olivia Hattie Hightopp the First!"

The Queen was almost angry at this point. "Well, what can I say. I didn't choose when my son was to be born anymore than you chose for your daughter. And it was his birthday first."

"This is outrageous!" Hatter yelled, as he stomped out of the Queen's room. "Don't worry, Livy Hightopp. Your birth will be known to the kingdom!"

* * *

In the ball room, there were decorations everywhere Hatter looked. There was a huge banner that hung from one end of the room to the other, that said, Happy Birthday, Prince Aksel.

"Prince Aksel, really? Well, we'll see about that." Hatter grabbed a latter and climbed all the way up to the banner. Then He wrote with a pen 'and Olivia Hightopp, the Royal Hatter's daughter.'

"There," Hatter said, with a smile. Then he climbed back down to take a look. His wrighting was so small, that it wasn't even seen. "Thats better."

Hatter glanced around. "Well, everything else looks decorated pretty good for royalty," he said, with his hands on his hips. Then he left the room.

* * *

During the Prince's celebration, there was a ball and singing with a huge cake. Hatter was going around showing everyone his baby, but not one person knew of her existence until he showed them. Hatter was getting very upset. He came to the queen and demanded that she announced his child's birth.

The queen sighed and then called for everyone to come to silence. "Attention everyone! This morning, our hatter's wife has given birth to their daughter, Olivia Hightopp. What a wonderful day it is!"

Everyone stared at the queen for a moment and then all went back to talking to one another. Hatter gasped with horror. "Queen Mirana! They don't know who you meant, cause you didn't say Royal Hatter!" he tried to say.

"There's only one hatter here, Hatter," the queen said.

Hatter's eyes popped out like he was going to cry. He walked around the crowd as everyone ate cake and chatted away.

"Excuse me," Hatter interrupted a few men, as they were talking to one another.

The men looked at the hatter. Hatter was confident that these men didn't know he was the royal hatter with the new Olivia Hightopp, so he said, "It sure is a great thing that the Royal Hatter had his first child, now isn't it?"

One of the men lifted his shoulders. "I guess."

"Well, I mean, good for him, yes. But it's just not that important when 21 years ago today there was an announcement on the birth of a Prince," the other man said, as the both started laughing.

"I don't know why the queen would announce the hatter's kid anyway!"

"I'm the Royal Hatter!" Hatter scowled at them.

The men looked a little scared. "Oh...you are?"

"Yes, and Her Royal Highness, the Royal Hatter's daughter, _is_ worth announcing!" And with that, Hatter stomped away.

He stood on top of the table that carried the cake and called for attention. "Listen all of you, un royal people! The Royal Hatter's wife, just gave birth to their first daughter, Olivia Hattie Hightopp, and here she is!" Hatter held his child high over his head for everyone to see.

Everyone stared at her. Then a moment later, everyone began to gossip. "She's weird. She looks just like her father."

"Well, there's no doubt who's her father!" someone burst out laughing.

Hatter gasped with horror. He couldn't believe it. "I'll not have this! How could you say such a thing about royalty! You'll all be beheaded!"

Everyone started laughing at the crazy Mad Hatter. Hatter ran out of the ball room crying. He came into his and Alice's bedroom, where Alice was still resting.

"How's the party going? It's so nice of the queen to have thrown a party for Olivia," Alice said.

"Well it would be, if her spoiled son wouldn't try to steel the show every second of the celebration!"

"What do you mean?" Alice was confused. Hatter hadn't informed her that it was actually the Prince's party.

"Oh that good old prince, always has to be the center of attention! No one cares to see Olivia, they only care to see Prince Aksel, and congratulate him!"

"Why him?"

"Because it's his birthday too!" Hatter rolled his eyes.

Suddenly all the peices fell together. "Oh..." Alice said, quietly.

"Like he hasn't been the star of everyone's eye for 21 years, he just had to be the star today too, when the Royal Hatter's daughter was born!"

"How...terrible..." Alice sighed, knowing that her husband would go on and on. She closed her eyes and listened to him complain to his heart's content.


	7. The Royal Baby

It was 7:30 at night and the sky was dark. The castle was quiet as Adele and Aksel looked down into the shining white cradle of their brand new baby daughter, Princess Melody Rose.

"She's so beautiful," Adele smiled, as she hugged onto her husband's side. "She looks a lot like you, I think."

Aksel smiled with relief. His sweet wife was now sweet again and it was like he had just met her all over again.

Adele smiled up at him. But just as she looked onto his face, she saw a leftover scar that ran down his face. "Aksel!" Adele pressed her hand to his scar, "what happened?"

Aksel nearly glared down at her as she looked at the scar that she had given him. "I got hurt," he said, a little bitterly.

"Well, how! Who hurt you, cause whoever did will have to deal with me defending you!"

Aksel lifted his eyebrow in a amusement. "I can't remember."

"Well, try!"

"I'm actually trying to forget."

"Oh, Aksel, that scar looks horrible!"

"It'll fade," Aksel sighed. "Just forget it. Enjoy our new child," he said, as he ran his finger along Melody's little, white arm.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "It's me!" called the queen.

Aksel ran to get the door to let his mother in.

"Oh, let me see!" White Queen cried, as she was anxious to meet her son's new daughter. Mirana gasped as she looked into the cradle of white. "Oh, my..." she whispered with tears in her eyes.

"Mother?" Aksel smiled, as he wiped her tears.

"I'm sorry...I just...I can't believe that _my_ baby ...has a baby of his own! Sometimes I wish you could be a baby again," she smiled, as she picked up her new granddaughter.

"Well...we call grow up, Mother," Aksel said, as he kissed his baby's blond head.

"She so beautiful. I'm so proud of you, Aksel. You make me so proud."

"If anyone's to be proud of, it's the one who gave birth to that baby!" Adele snapped, as she was being forgotten.

Aksel frowned. "Or the one who had to _deal_ with you all the time you were carrying her," he muttered.

"Oh, are you saying I'm a problem, Mister!"

"No, no!" Aksel said, in aggravation.

"Cause if I am, you can feel free to just walk right out of this castle until you're ready to behave!"

"All right, well I'll let you two get some sleep, and the little one as well. We all have a very big celebration in the morning," Mirana said, not wanting the two to fight any more.

"We should get in bed," Aksel said, as he set the baby back in her cradle. The two got into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

The next day, Aksel and Adele woke to the sound of a page calling throughout the castle. "The Prince has a daughter! The Prince has a daughter!"

All of the castle woke and all came to the page man.

"The Prince's daughter was born last night! There is to be a ball in honor of her birth!"

Everyone cheered. Hatter came walking out of his bedroom, still in his pajamas and tired with morning breath. His pajamas were a long pink sleeper with two bottons on his butt. "What's going on?" he yawned.

"The Prince's wife gave birth to his first child!"

Hatter gasped as he looked at all of the cheering people. "I don't recall being woken from my sleep by the page to hear that _my_ daughter was born!"

"Yeah well...this is the prince," a guy said, lifting his shoulders, "he's royal."

"So am I! I'm the Royal Hatter!" But no one heard him. They all continued cheering and cheering.

* * *

Then after an hour, the prince and princess came out of their room with the new baby, all dressed in a shining white gown. They walked down the aisle of the thrown room as everyone looked on at the newborn princess of their kingdom.

"Oh, she's beautiful! She looks just like her father!" said the same person that said those very words about Hatter's daughter.

"Oh, what a gorgeous princess!" a lady said, and everyone threw roses and rice on the little family.

Once the three of them got to the queen's thrown, all went silent. The baby was laid in a carraige by the thrown and the queen rose. "Men, Women and Children of Marmoreal! Today is a one of the most important days in our history. Today is the day that my son's princess was born! He has given heir to the thrown of Underland that will rule under our family! But today is not only the day the prince has become a father. This is also the day of his coronation with his wife as well!"

The crowd gasped, and Mirana had Adele and Aksel kneel before her. They removed their crowns and Mirana placed a new crown on her son's head. "By my authority, I hereby give you King Aksel, ruler of Marmoreal and all of Underland!"

The crowd went crazy and they cheered and cheered, as Mirana got the another crown. "And as his wife, I give you Queen Adele!"

Adele was placed her crown and she scowled evilly at Hatter. "Ha ha!"

"And last of all," Mirana said, as she held the tiny tiara for the baby. Aksel held the baby as he knelt before his mother, "I give you Princess Melody Rose of Underland!"

The crowd cheered once more. All accept Hatter, who sat off to the side of the room and sulked. "My daughter's celebration wasn't this big!"

Alice came up to her husband as she was clapping and cheering as well. "Isn't this wonderful, Hatter! Our prince is a king!"

Hatter scowled at the new King. "King! He just keeps getting royaler and royaler! As if prince wasn't good enough, he just _had_ to become a king! Spoiled!"

And the little royal family came walking back down the aisle, as the celebration was to continue in the ballroom.

There was a huge banner that said, 'Welcome Princess Melody,' and a huge cake with pink and purple icing.

"My daughter's name wasn't that readable," Hatter pouted as he saw the big banner for Melody. "Oh, I suppose just because she's the _King's_ daughter it makes her more important then my daughter! We're all royal! What does it matter if you're a royal hatter, or a royal ruler!"

There was dancing and laughter, as everyone celebrated the birth of the princess. Hatter hated how Alice wanted to celebrate as well. She never supported him with this kind of stuff. Even little Olivia was happy that there was a new baby that she would be able to play with. The party lasted for the rest of the day, as Hatter was misreable the whole time.


	8. A Hatter's Daughter and A Princess

Almost two years had passed and Hatter watched his little daughter grow into a fine little girl. Her hair was very curly like his and she already loved tea parties and hats just as much as her father.

"Hat, Papa, hat!" Livie cried, as she jumped, and tried to reach her father's hat to wear on her own head.

"Oh, no you don't. No one get's my hat. This hat is very special," Hatter said, as he was cleaning up a tea party. Then he noticed his little girl was playing with Chessur, and yanking on his face. Hatter laughed. "Livie, please don't pull on his face."

Livie smiled at her father and then jumped onto the cat like she was riding a horse. The cat floated up to a large oak tree, dropping her off by herself.

"Livie!" Hatter shouted in concern. "Come back down, or your mother will have my hat!"

"I can't!" Livie cried. "Help, help!"

"Hold on, Dearest! I'm coming, My little Sunflower!" Hatter tried to reach up to the first branch, but he pulled his shoulder out on the first grip. Livie cried more.

"Help, Papa, help!"

"I'm sorry, Dear! Papa's not as...young as he used to be..." Hatter admitted. "Well..." he corrected himself. "No one is as young as they used to be, of course. Don't beat yourself down, Royal Hatter."

"Mama, Papa!" Livie cried.

Just then, Alice came running out. "What's worng?" she asked in an urgency.

"Uh," Hatter stepped in the way, not wanting his wife to see, "nothing. I can handle this."

"Mama, help!" Livie cried.

Alice gasped as she watched her daughter crying, high up in the tree. "Hatter, how could you let this happen!"

"It wasn't me, it was the cat!"

Alice ran to the tree and with her young, flexible, strong body, she climbed the tree and held her daughter, hugging her in her arms. "It's all right, livie. You're safe now."

Alice climbed back down and gave Hatter a look of lecture. "How did this happen, Hatter?"

"Uh...uh..." Hatter was getting very nervous, and he grabbed his hat. Alice walked passed him and yanked the hat from his head. "You don't get this till the end of the day," she told him, and she walked away.

Hatter's face fell, as his head had no hat on. Then he cleaned up the tea party alone. Just then, there was a loud squeal of a child and Hatter thought it was Livie, so he turned in excitement. But his face fell to a scowl the second he saw that it was in fact, Princess Melody and the King. He was chasing her all around the garden as she screamed with laughter.

"I'm gonna get you!" he called, as the daughter sqealed again, falling into a pile of lilacs. Her father began to tickle her as she giggled so hard she couldn't stop.

Hatter continued scowling at the two as he watched the King hug his princess to himself, with all the love in the world.

"Oh, I'm a king so I have a father daughter relationship way better than any other father in the world!" Hatter thought, mocking the King. "I bet he doesn't love his daughter half of half of as much as I love mine."

Hatter watched as the princess took off the crown of her father's head and she placed it onto her own. But the crown was so big, it fell to her shoulders, and the two began laughing again. Hatter's eyes grew big. He wasn't that easy going when his daughter tried to take his hat.

Just then, the King looked the Hatter's way. "Good day, Hatter," he called waving to him.

"Royal Hatter," Hatter corrected.

"Oh...yes. Forgive me," King Aksel said, as he tried to hide his amusement.

Just then, Melody came running over to Hatter and she pointed to his head. "Hat gone!"

Hatter glared at her without the King catching it, as he was staring at the tea party Hatter was cleaning up.

"Be off with you!" Hatter whispered, as he bared his teeth to the little princess. Suddenly, the princess shreiked and ran back to her father, burrying her face into his knee.

"What is it, Little Rosebud?" The King chuckled, as he lifted his daughter.

"Oh, Rosebud?" Hatter rolled his eyes. "Sunflowers are bigger." Hatter tried to think that his nikname for his child was better, but he knew that Sunflowers were pesent flowers and roses were the opposite. "Well, I named her sunflower because her head was the size of the sunflower that I planted for her when she was born!" Then he decided to shut himself up because he was reviealing that he was a pesant the more he tried to talk himself out of it.

"Bad!" Melody cried as she pointed to Hatter.

Hatter's eyes narrowed at the little girl.

"No, Melody, he's not bad. He's our hatter," Aksel told his daughter, gently.

"Royal, Royal, Royal!" Hatter bickered. "How many times do I have to say Royal, and I don't belong to you, so don't use that term our hatter, while referring to me!"

The King glared at Hatter. "I think I've been a little two patient with you, so I'll remind you that I'm the _King_ , and I'll not have _my_ hatter talk to me that way."

Hatter gasped, and his bright green eyes were wide open with shock. He thought that he could get away with anything around the King since he was so kind.

"Good day," the King said, as he took his daughter away. Hatter was blushing as red as a beet with both humiliation and anger at the king, and he wanted revenge every second for Aksel having treated him that way.

He stared at the king from a distance as he watched him pick flowers for his daughter and she collected a bouquet.

Hatter's eyes were wide with jealosy. "I have a daughter that I can pick flowers for too!" he spat, as he had so much hate in his heart.

"Yes, but would the scene look as perfect and adorable?" asked the cat who had floated back.

Hatter tried to punch the cat, but the cat disappeared and hatter threw out his other shoulder from having punched nothing.

"Hmm, hmmm, hmmm," the cat chuckled, as he reappeared in the tree, watching Hatter grab at his shoulder. "Chop, chop," the cat said, and he was off.

Hatter stomped back into the castle and where Alice was. "Alice, I demand my hat back!" he said, as she was laying Livie down for her nap.

"No, Hatter," Alice said, sternly.

"Alice, it wasn't my fault! It was the cat's fault!"

"Hatter I don't want to hear anything on the matter, anymore!"

Hatter went to the window seat and flopped down, pouting. "What's the hatter...matter?" he muttered, and suddenly, he looked very troubled. Then he lashed out and began howling, ripping curtains off of the windows and knocking over tables of tea.

"Hatter!" Alice screamed, and she ran over and slapped him behind the head. Hatter didn't expect Alice to treat him like that. He thought she would pity him. He looked at her both shocked and extreamily hurt.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Alice yelled, with fury. "You knew I was laying Livie for her nap, and why in Underland would you do something as stupid as ripping up the curtains and knocking over tables!?"

Hatter wanted to cry. "Alice...I was lossing it..." he tried to say.

"No!" Alice snapped and she grabbed him by the back of the neck, while dragging him to the closet. "You can sit in there untill you're ready to be good. If you're going to act like a child, I'll treat you like one!" And with that, Alice slammed the door, leaving Hatter in the dark.

Hatter cried, now that he was alone. Alice didn't fall for any of his pity tricks for she was too smart, and now he was forced to stay in the closet for the rest of the day, without his hat and without anyone to comfort him.


	9. The Sick Children

One rainy evening, Livie was playing out in the mud. She slapped the ground with her hands, looking like a pig in the dirt.

"Livie," Hatter said, as he came to pick her up, "royalty musn't play in the mud like a peasant."

"Not royal," Livie said.

"Of course you are! Your father is the royal hatter!" Hatter snapped.

Just then, Livie sneezed. Hatter knew that she was chatching cold. "Let's take you in inside and get you some tea," he smiled at his daughter. Then he took her into the castle.

* * *

The next day, Livie was indeed sick with the cold. She kept sneezing and coughing.

"I'll call for the doctor," Hatter said, as he was about to leave.

"Hatter...it's only a cold," Alice told him.

"And a cold that should be treated well," Hatter said, wisely. And he left for the doctor.

20 minutes later, Hatter came in with a doctor. The doctor knelt next to the little girl and felt her forehead. "She's not warm." He looked up her nose and down her throat. Then in her ears and eyes. "She's only got a cold. She'll be all right," the doctor smiled.

"But how do you know, Doctor. I wouldn't want to take any chances with the Royal Hatter's daughter," Hatter said, sternly.

"Well..." the doctor lifted his shoulders a little, "I suppose I could watch her for a while to see how she acts. Maybe make some chicken soup for her throat."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Alice opened it to reveal Queen Mirana. "Hello, Alice. I have a new order for a hat I would like your husband to make me."

"Oh, yes," Alice smiled. "But Livie's sick, so you might want to keep your distance."

The Queen gave a pitiful look to the little girl in her bed. "Oh...the poor dear. How is it that little one's are always catching the flu?" She shook her head sadly.

Hatter beamed at the Queen's concern and he smiled proudly.

"Oh, no worries. Livie only has a little cold," Alice told the Queen.

Hatter's smile fell to a frown.

"Well, that's good. I wouldn't want, Little Livie to be sick," said the queen.

"She is sick," Hatter corrected.

"Well, it'll be gone in the morning, I'm sure," Mirana smiled.

Just then, there was another knock on the door. "Dr. Aiken!" called a man on the other side of the door.

"Yes?" the doctor rose from his seat and opened the door.

"I think you must come. The princess is sick," said the worried man.

"Well, he's already got someone booked for this time," Hatter said, with a bit of a scowel at the thought of the princess stealing the doctor from his daughter.

"The king and queen are very worried. The little princess wont move, eat or drink. She's a bright rose color and can barely keep her eyes open," told the messanger.

"Oh, my!" Mirana gasped, and she ran out of the room.

"Wait...your hat order!" called Hatter.

"I don't need it anymore!" Mirana fled to find her granddaughter.

The doctor grabbed his bag and began to follow Mirana to the King and Queen's bedroom.

"Wait, wait!" called Hatter.

"Hatter, stop! Princess Melody's sick, and it's much more serious than what Livie has!" Alice told him.

Hatter glared, as Alice ran off to go see what was going on. Hatter ran after her. "Do not tell me you're actually worried!"

Alice ignored him and ran into the king and queen's bed chambers. There she saw that Adele was crying and Aksel was hugging her, looking very concerned himself. They were both gazing down into the baby's crib as the poor little sick baby was sleeping away.

"She's just sick," Hatter rolled his eyes. "Why is everyone making such a big fuss over it!"

"Just what I thought," said the doctor. "Royalitise."

Hatter got one look at the baby's complexion and backed away. "Oh..." he gasped. "she is sick." Then he looked to Alice. "I believe we ought to take a small vacation so that Livie doesn't catch whatever nasty bug this child has."

"That wont be nessisary," the doctor said. "Royalitise can only effect Royals."

Hatter's heart began to beat hard at the thought of someone saying he wasn't royal. "Well my daughter is in fact royal," he said, nervously.

The doctor looked starngely.

"Royal Hatter!" Hatter through out his arms.

The doctor lifted an eyebrow. "Um...no. It can only effect _real_ royals, not non one's. Don't worry, Hatter. You and your family is quite safe from this."

Hatter scowled with a red face of fury.

"What are we going to do?" Aksel asked the doctor.

"As of right now, Your Majesty, I'll give her a few shots to kill the fever, but I think we've cought it early enough that it might not get to bad. If you had waited longer than a few hours, I'm not sure what our fortune would be," the doctor said, with concern. "Royalitse can be extremily dangerous."

Adele started sobbing all over again.

"I can assure you, Your Highness, I will do whatever it takes to get the princess well again."

Hatter and Alice began to exit the room. Alice looked very saddened, while Hatter was envious and left out feeling. "I wish my daughter would get royalitise!"

"Hatter, what!" Alice looked strangely at him.

Hatter only looked away. "Nothing," he muttered.

The whole kingdom grew in concern once they discovered that the princess was sick with royalitise. They were all so afraid that non of them would eat or sleep.

As Hatter was getting in bed, Alice was staring out the window. "Alice, why aren't you coming to bed?"

Alice sighed. "I'm so worried."

Hatter clenched his teeth.

"I...I'm really worried about the princess. What if the worst happens!"

"There is nothing to worry about, My Sweet," Hatter told her, as he looked away. "Besides, we have enough to worry about with Livie being sick."

Livie was sitting in the middle of the room, playing with her toy tea set, making play noises as she did. Then she jumped up and ran around with her little stuffed bear.

"Livie's not sick," Alice said, almost angry at Hatter. He never cared about anything important.

"Well, I don't see why the whole kingdom has to stay awake, stressing on this!"

"Hatter, stop! Imagine how King Aksel and Queen Adele are feeling right now!" Alice snapped. "They must be worried beyond belief!"

Hatter nodded, trying not to look too happy about that. "I could imagine," he said, quietly.

"You know what it's like to be worried about your child! Your child only had a cold this morning and you were asking the doctor to stay with her! Princess Melody really _is_ sick!

"So was Livie!"

"No, Hatter! Stop!" Alice looked away, and heaved a sigh. Hatter said nothing, as he yanked the covers up onto himself and turned out the lamp. "Well, I'm going to bed. You can stay up and stress on nothing of your concern if you'd like." Hatter curled up and was snoring in only five minutes.

Alice just couldn't stop thinking about the princess, and how worried her parents looked. She had never even heard of Royalitise. "Is there even a cure?" she wondered, and she began to read a book that she had saved from her land. Alice wasn't surprised to find that Royalitise was a sickness only of Underland. "There must be something to do."

Alice ran out of the bedroom and into the White queen's potion room. Mirana was boiling all sorts of concotions together, and Alice knew that she was trying to find a cure for the Princess.

"Any luck?" asked Alice.

Mirana looked stressed. "No..." she sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know what to do! She's gotten much worst over the past few hours!" Mirana was beginning to cry, and she knew that Mirana was probably keeping from telling the truth. Alice knew that the princess must be very sick.

"This sickness is so rare, that doctor's couldn't invest in it very much! They don't know what to do either!"

Alice wanted to cry just by watching the worried grandmother. But suddenly, she got an idea. "Have you any jabberwocky blood leftover?" she asked.

Mirana thought for a moment. "Jabberwocky blood...? I never thought of it." Mirana began to look through her shelves and cabinets. "I must have saved it, I believe."

Sure enough, she found some.

"I've been studdying about Underland, and I've read that Jabberwocky blood has cures in many sicknesses. Maybe even this one," Alice said, with hope.

Quickly, Mirana mixed a tablespoon of blood into a few other ingredients. Mirana was so desperate that she was willing to try anything.

Alice and Mirana rushed up to the King's room and the doctors were all there, working on the baby. Aksel had his hand on the baby's head, rubbing her and Adele had her face buried into Aksel's back, sobbing beyond control.

"Doctor!" Mirana called to the head doctor. "I have something!"

"What is it?" Aksel asked, hoping for anything at this point.

"I -... um...I mean, Alice had an idea and we made this potion together," Mirana said, as she came closer to the baby's crib. Very carefully, Mirana lifted the baby up at an angle and Alice put a drop of the Jabberwocky potion into the baby's mouth.

Melody, suddenly, took it in, and didn't spit it out like all the other stuff she was given to drink, and she licked her lips a bit. Adele looked over, as she had been dreading to watch this whole time, and she was so happy to see that her child opened her brown eyes for the first time that day.

Melody looked over at her mother and suddenly her complexion lost it's wine color and she smiled. "Mama!" she called.

"Oh, Melody, you're okay!" Adele cried, and she picked up her daughter and hugged her tight. "My baby!"

Aksel pulled the baby to himself for a hug as well, and Melody was smiling with happiness. Just as good as new, she had a sparkle in her eye and she hugged her father back.

"Thank you, Alice! Thank you, Mirana!" Adele cried, and she pulled them both in for a hug of gratefulness.

"It was Alice, really," Mirana told them, "if it weren't for Alice, I would never know what to do, and I don't think Melody would be here."

"That you're right about," a doctor said, "we were minutes away from loosing her."

* * *

Horns blew through the air, and there was a ceremony in the thrown room. The kingdom unighted together, and celebrated for not having lost their princess.

Hatter, pouted as he heard the king speaking to all of his people about how grateful he was that his daughter was alive.

"And to show my gratefulness to the one who saved my daughter, please, Alice, come to the thrown and kneel before me," Aksel called to Alice in the crowd.

Suddenly, Alice looked surprised. "Me...?" she asked, as she looked at the king. He nodded.

Adele smiled at her, as she hugged her healthy baby. Hatter watched on with curiosity. "W...what?" Hatter asked, as Alice began to walk up to the King.

Alice knelt before the King as he put his scepter on her right shoulder and then left. Hatter gulped as the king said, "I dub Alice Kingsleigh, Dutchess of Underland, for saving my daughter's life. She has greatly earned her place in this kingdom and under the roof of my castle."

Hatter's face lit up with all the happiness he thought he could ever have and he thought he had just died of joy. He would be a Duke if his wife was a dutchess. But as the crowd cheered, he realized that King Aksel hadn't called for _him_ to come kneel down before him. "Wait...but I must be the Duke if my wife is a Duchess..."

Hatter raised his hand. "Young King...!" he called. "What does that make me?"

Aksel glanced over at Hatter. "You're the royal hatter," he said.

Hatter's eyes almost popped out of his head. "But...my _wife_ is the duchess!"

"Yes...but you told me not to remove your title, Royal Hatter."

Hatter looked horrified. "Oh...but I understand now! You can remove it if you like! Law is law!"

"I'm the king, and being that I am is so overjoyed with gratfulness right now, I'm willing to make an acception for the husband of the duchess. If he wishes to be Royal Hatter, I will keep him that. I know how important and serious is it to you being the Royal Hatter. A little change can't hurt," the King said, with a smile.

"What a noble King you are!" Mirana said, proudly.

"But...but...!" Hatter squeaked and he sunk back, wanting to crawl in a hole and cry. The crowd cheered happily at the king's decision.

"Long live Good King Aksel!" called the crowd. And Hatter turned away with tears all over his face. "Die right now, King Aksel!" he spat, and he ran away from the cheering crowd.

* * *

As night fell, and after the long party, Alice and Hatter were going to bed. Alice was afraid to look at Hatter, as she knew how upset he would be. "Are you all right, Hatter?" she asked, as she set her hand on his shoulder.

"Why wouldn't I be!" Hatter said, quickly, and nervously.

"Well...I know how much you want to be...royal and all - "

"I am!"

"Well...are you unhappy that I'm the Duchess and you're not the duke?"

"Of course not!" Hatter gave a look of exatrating disbelief. "Being Royal Hatter is the most important thing I could ever be! I love being Royal Hatter, and I wouldn't give it up for anything!" Hatter was trying so hard to keep from crying and showing his great jealousy. While the whole time he looked at Alice, he hated her so much, and she was his wife. He hated hating his wife. "It's all that no good, son of a bitch, spoiled, bratty, unrighteous, rotten, sewer smelling, nasty king's fault!" he thought. "All that boy ever did for me was cause me grief! And a king that causes grief, should never rule!"

Hatter pulled up his covers and closed his eyes.

"I'm glad you're all right, Hatter," Alice said, as she rubbed his forehead.

"Of course I'm all right. I'm so happy!" Hatter lied.

"Now we can both be Royal and happy!" Alice cheered. "I feared this would be something I could never mention!"

Hatter was clenching his teeth as he listened to Alice. He knew he wasn't really royal, and if he had saved the king's daughter then he could be too. But only Alice had love and kindness and she was the only one who would do it. Hatter was only giving himself a dose of his own medicine and he wouldn't admit that his suffering was his fault.


	10. Story Time

**Three years later**

As Alice was putting Livie to bed, Livie asked, "Mommy, when did you know that you loved Daddy?"

Alice smiled at the memory. "Well, honestly, I knew the second I saw him."

Livie smiled. "Really?" she mused.

"Yes. But I never thought he'd have anything to do with me. For a while, I thought he was in love with Queen Adele. She had arrived to Underland before I, and for some reason, I got the feeling that he was definitly in love with her by the way he acted around her."

Alice thought a while on what she remembered.

"But suddenly, out of the blues, he surprised me! On the Frabjious day, when the Red Queen was defeated, your father set up a tea table for myself and him. And in that after noon, he proposed to me!"

The little girl smiled at this.

"I thought for sure that he would be wanting to marry Adele. But he asked me instead! And we all celebrated on that wonderful day!"

"What happened when Daddy proposed to you?" Livie asked.

"Well, I was on my way back into the castle, when I passed by your father. He looked very anxious, almost like he was crying about something. But he had a tea table set up and he called me over."

 **Flashback**

Alice walked up to the castle doors. She glanced over and saw Hatter standing by a messed up tea table and he was trying to fix it. He set a cake back on a plate and the tea cups were knocked over.

Alice looked a bit curiously but didn't say anything. But when Hatter turned he almost jolted in surprise. "Oh...hello, Alice!" He turned away, trying to hide his face.

"Hello, Hatter," Alice smiled.

There was nothing said after that, so Alice continued on her way.

"Wait, Alice!" Hatter called after her. Alice turned a bit uncertain of why Hatter was behaving so akwardly.

"Yes?" Alice responded.

"Will you join me for tea?"

Alice gulped, with eyes wide in surprise. She came over to the tea tables, both confused and happy at the same time. "Of course I will," she smiled.

Hatter quickly fixed all the plates and cups as Alice sat down. "Thank you for having me. This is all so nice."

"Yes, well..." Hatter sniffed a bit. "Alice I have a very important question," he said, as he knelt down next to her and held out a ring. "Will you marry me?" He asked this with tears streaming down his face.

Alice thought she had just been taken to paradise. Did he really ask what she thought she heard? How could this be? "Hatter...I...I..." she smiled and tears of joy came out of her eyes. "Yes, of course I will!" Alice jumped from her chair and hugged him so tightly.

Hatter was crying even more now. Alice was so happy cause she thought he was crying for all the reason she was. For happiness.

"Hatter, I'm so happy you asked! I didn't think you would!" Alice wiped her tears as she put the ring on her finger.

"Yes...well I didn't think I would wither..." Hatter hiccuped on his sobbing.

 **End of flashback**

"And for the rest of the evening, we danced and celebrated the wonderful day!" Alice said, joyously. "I'll never forget it."

"How wonderful! But too bad it happened on the frabjous day..." Livie said, a bit sadly.

"Oh, that made it all the better!" Alice smiled, as she grasped her little girl's hands. "I remember thinking how handsome your father looked in his kilt that day, with his big sword. I was only sad that I thought he would never want to be mine...but he did!"

"And now you two are happily married!" Livie jumped up and down on her bed.

"Not only that, we are happy parents as well!" Alice said, as she gave her daughter a hug and kiss. "Good night, Livie. May you have sweet dreams!"

"Good night, Mommy," Livie waved good bye to Alice, as Alice closed the door. Then she walked into her and Hatter's bedroom to get in bed. Hatter was already in there.

"Hello, Dear," Alice said.

"Hi," Hatter said, a little grimly.

Alice frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking about all the bad stuff that happened in my life and now I'm feeling sad," Hatter heaved a sigh.

"Well...you don't have to think of all the sad things...Why not happy things, like...the day you proposed to me?" Alice smiled.

Suddenly Hatter's eyes opened wide. "I don't want to," he muttered.

Alice's smile fell and she got in bed. "Good night, Darling."

"Good night, Lovely," Hatter sighed and he fell on his side, facing away from Alice.

* * *

As Adele was putting her little princess to bed, she was just about to kiss Melody good night, when suddenly, Melody asked, "Mama, how come you married Papa!" Her smile was bright and expectant.

But Adele looked a little akwardly and lifted her shoulders. "I don't know. Cause he was a handsome prince, I guess."

Melody's smile fell to disappointment. "Oh...well when did you first fall in love with him?" she asked, a little hopeful still.

Adele gave her daughter a curious look. "Are you reading fairy tails?"

"I can't read."

"Is Livie reading you fairy tails?" Adele knew that Livie could read all though she was only five.

"No, but she told me a story about her Mama and Papa falling in love!"

"Yeah," Adele rolled her eyes, "that's pretty typical."

"Why?"

"Cause my four year old daughter of the brilliant minded King Aksel doesn't ask questions like that otherwise."

"What does brilliant mean?" Melody crunched up her face.

"Why don't you ask your father?" Adele burst out into hilarious laughter. "Never mind, he wouldn't know!"

After Adele calmed a bit, she sighed and caught her breath. "Yeah, that's funny." Then she walked off.

"But, Mama!" Melody stopped her, "you didn't tell me yet!"

Adele frowned. "Tell you what?"

"When you fell in love with Papa!"

"Well you don't even care so why are you asking?"

"Cause I'm copying Livie!" Melody jumped up and down happily.

Adele rolled her eyes. "I can tell."

"Tell me, tell me!"

"Okay," Adele sighed. "What do you want to know again?"

"When you fell in love with Papa!" Melody clapped her hands.

Adele shrugged. "Well...I don't know...I guess it was sometime in the past years I've known him."

Melody's smile fell again. "You mean...you didn't love him?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Adele struggled.

"How did he propose to you?"

"He took me out on the porch and asked me to marry him."

"Tell me the story!"

"I don't remember anything else about it. He just asked me to marry him and I said yes," Adele said, mildly.

Melody looked sad now. "Do you love him?"

"Yeah sure," Adele said, tiredly.

"What do you love most about him?"

"His handsomeness, I guess...and the fact that he makes me rich."

"But...when did you first meet him?"

"Honestly, I don't remember much about my early day's with your father," Adele admitted. "He might. You can ask him." But suddenly, Adele snickered. "Nah, maybe not. He's to dumb to remember anything."

Melody frowned. "Oh..." she said, sadly.

"Yeap!" Adele laughed some more. "Good night."

"Good night, Mama." Melody crawled under her covers.

Adele came walking into her and Aksel's bedroom to go to bed. Aksel was already in bed, waiting for his wife. Adele smiled when she saw his handsome face. "Hi, Handsome!"

Aksel smiled back. "Hi, Beautiful."

"I love your face!" Adele said, as she got in bed next to him and kissed his face. Aksel felt so wonderful. He felt so loved by his wife and was so happy he found her.


End file.
